FOOTBALL is a stupid game and, at the end of it, Town go to Wembley.

Swindon needed to keep it level so they could start making plans for the League One play-off final.

Stuff that, why not put on the most entertaining game of the 2014/15 season instead?

Ten goals in more than 100 minutes of insane play-off football and at final whistle the County Ground pitch was awash with delirious Swindonians celebrating their side’s first trip to a play-off final for five years.

The game rocked like a lost boat in a storm. Just when Town thought they had steered the tie to the safety of port, the Blades fought back.

Ben Gladwin scored twice and Michael Smith another in a frenetic opening 20 minutes. Surely Sheffield were sunk?

Apparently not. A Nathan Thompson own goal and Chris Basham’s diving header had the Blades back in it by half time.

When Jermaine Hylton won a penalty for Smith to convert again it looked over. Again no, Steven Davies responded just six minutes later with a back-post header to make it 4-3 on the night.

Town seemed to have finally settled it six minutes from time when Jonathan Obika finished off an incisive breakaway to restore the two-goal cushion.

But again the Blades came back, Matt Done and Che Adams levelling the scores on the night with seven tortuous of added time to come.

It was hairy, but Swindon held out and ensured a march down Wembley Way on May 24.

Manager Mark Cooper opted for an unchanged team as he looked to join Preston North End in the Wembley final.

On the bench, injuries to John Swift and Andy Williams meant Will Randall and Raphael Branco came in.

Tyrell Belford also returned in place of his brother Cameron as the back-up to Wes Foderingham in goal.

Town could not have asked for a better start as they extended their aggregate lead within minutes.

A Nathan Byrne cross was half-cleared and Gladwin rounded on it like a snarling beast on easy prey.

Striking the dropping ball first time from 18 yards, it flew past the stranded Mark Howard after taking a small nick on the way through.

Gladwin’s next goal was far simpler. Byrne again, flying after his starring role at Bramall Lane, chased down a ball seemingly lost to the byline and looped a cross to the far post. Waiting at the far post were two men in red and Gladwin tapped into an empty net.

If Town fans were pinching themselves at this point, they must have drawn their own blood.

Again Byrne was the architect, he swept in another cross which just eluded Hylton at the far post.

Smith pounced on a floundering Freeman who couldn’t clear. The big striker wrestled away the ball and turned sharply to shoot into the bottom corner.

Town were flying and fans were already trying to figure out the Tube route to Wembley Park.

From here it looked like there was to be no road back for the Blades, 5-1 down in the tie and only a long road back to South Yorkshire awaiting.

However the gloom in the away end was lifted to a degree less than a minute later.

A neat Blades move came to Murphy on the left-hand side of the penalty area and his shot took a wicked deflection off Thompson, wrong-footing Foderingham and giving the away fans in the goal behind a smidgen of hope.

Murphy’s shot was going wide so it went down as a Thompson own goal, his second in just under a month.

Swindon are great on the front foot, but they are not set up to defend a lead. It was great for the neutral, but Town would have helped themselves by sitting tight and protecting what they had.

Instead they continued to try and exploit the spaces left by a United side throwing everything forward. There were moments of danger at either end, without anything clear-cut materialising.

By the standards of the game so far the next goal was a long time coming.

Swindon were on top, but were stung as Blades found the cutting edge so rarely evident in the opening 45.

Coutts found Harris in an advanced position on the left and the full-back delivered a perfect cross for Basham, arriving late in the box, to dive on to and head home. Game on.

With the hour nearly gone it seemed like disaster had struck Town.

Skipper Thompson went down clutching his groin, had to be withdrawn and on came Jonathan Obika to play at left wing-back, with Sam Ricketts moving into the back three.

However Town got a lucky break just moments later.

A long ball forward was allowed through with Smith and Alcock wrestling underneath it, Hylton nipped in behind flicked it over the onrushing Howard, who brought him down. A stonewall penalty.

Smith confidently beat the Blades keeper, who went the right way, with a placed effort.

Again it should have been game over, but again it was not. Town’s two-goal cushion lasted just over five minutes.

Harris again was afforded too much room on the Blades’ left and with a wonderful deep cross found substitute Steven Davies at the far post who nodded firmly past Foderingham.

Town’s next goal encapsulated everything they do well. Massimo Luongo led a breakaway after winning the ball in midfield and fed Obika.

The striker still had a lot do, but did it with style. Darting between two defenders with ease, he slotted coolly past Howard.

Still United would not know defeat. Town could not clear a Blades corner and Foderingham made a couple of great stops before Done rifled home.

Town needed to ease the nerves, but Adams was having none of it.

With 90 minutes on the clock, the substitute was looking lively and, cutting in from the right, curled a shot in at back post to send the hearts of a whole town into palpitations.

For seven minutes the blood pumped furiously as the Blades poured everything forward.

Eventually, referee Keith Hill brought respite to the home fans, cueing a wild pitch invasion.