'Til the End'.
Those words written across the Sunderland team coach and unfurled on an enormous Tifo as the players emerged on to the Stadium of Light pitch proved more prophetic than even the most ardent Black Cats supporter could have imagined.
With virtually the last touch of a match in which they had been second best to Coventry City for large periods, Dan Ballard headed his team to Wembley.
So Sunderland's season will go to the very end, the final game of the Championship season as they face Sheffield United on 24 May with the chance to end their eight-year spell outside of the Premier League.