Sheffield United crush Bristol City and can now end 100 years of hurt at Wembley

And now for the £200 million question - can the Blades finally cut it at Wembley?

Since 1925, when Fred Tunstall scored the winner in the final against , Sheffield United have turned excursions along football’s most celebrated promenade into trips down Misery Lane.

But as Chris Wilder led his boyhood club into the Championship play-off final, they moved within 90 minutes of cracking English football’s longest-running enigma code.

Kieffer Moore’s first goal since December, Gustavo Hamer’s fortuitous effort and substitute Callum O’Hare rewarded United’s exemplary application and completed the largest aggregate semi-final win in Championship play-off history.

After finishing 22 points ahead of Bristol City over the 46-game season, Wilder deserves the chance to end the worst play-off record in the country: Nine attempts, 20 semi-final legs, four finals, 100 per cent heartbreak.

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Now for the final frontier. Whether it’s been play-off finals or the Steel City FA Cup semi against the neighbours from Hillsborough, United have endured 100 years of disappointment at Wembley.

If they turned it into a game show it would be called Fail of the Century. They fill up your senses and sing along with John Denver but, worryingly, they couldn’t fill Bramall Lane when they were camped at the gates of the .

Surely the EFL can agree on sensible ticket price caps for these games when trips to Wembley cost a small fortune.

In fairness, the hard part had been done in last week’s 3-0 heist at Ashton Gate. Those old-fashioned virtues of discipline, organisation and professionalism were always going to be sufficient to complete the job.

Moore was a thorn in Bristol City’s side in that first leg, hauled down by Rob Dickie for the red card which swung the tie in the Blades’ favour.

And the Wales striker settled any nerves on the Kop four minutes before the break by soaring to meet Harrison Burrows’ corner as City keeper Max O’Leary, impeded by Tom Cannon, flapped and got nowhere near it.

For City, only won four of their 23 away games during the regulation league season, this was now a Mission Impossible to make Tom Cruise blush.

Since the play-offs were conceived 38 years ago, just 10 of 60 teams have progressed from the semi-final stage after losing the first leg on home soil - and no side had ever come back from a three-goal defeat at home to reach the final.

They started brightly, but City were vulnerable at set pieces all night and they were undone by another one seven minutes after the break.

It was a well-worked routine, but leaving Gustavo Hamer unmarked on the edge of the box was asking for trouble and his shot took a cruel deflection off Ross McCrorie beyond the stranded O’Leary.

With the shackles removed, Blades fans let it all hang out and O’Hare swept home Tyrese Campbell’s cross seven minutes from time. Wilder’s team will take some stopping at Wembley - if they aren’t weighed down by 100 years of history.

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