Middlesbrough booked their place in the Sky Bet Championship play-off final at Wembley with a 3-0 win over underdogs Brentford, completing a comprehensive 5-1 victory on aggregate.
Taking a 2-1 advantage into the game from the first leg at Griffin Park last week, Boro survived some early pressure but once Lee Tomlin opened the scoring in the first-half, the result never seemed in doubt.
The Bees rallied after the interval but an emphatic finish from Kike proved the sucker punch which ended their resistance, with the superb Albert Adomah adding a third with ten minutes to play.
Before the game, a spectacular Boro pre-match display showed the word "#Believe" stretched in red and white across the North Stand, while manager Aitor Karanka had a motivational message played to his players over the tannoy system as they took to the field.
The match started in bitty fashion as Boro began the game as they did in the first leg, racking up a number of minor fouls to break up their opponents' play. However while the visitors came forward more than the hosts in the opening minutes, there were no clear opportunities inside the first quarter of an hour with Jota shooting straight at Dimi Konstantopoulos in the Boro goal.
It took just over 20 minutes for the Teessiders to open the scoring on the night and double their overall advantage. Captain Grant Leadbitter sprayed a ball out to the right where Adomah collected and brought it inside, playing the ball to Tomlin at the edge of the area. The 26-year-old took a touch before bending a slightly deflected effort into the top right corner to send a sold-out Riverside Stadium into raptures.
The Bees looked to hit back almost immediately, and Leadbitter was off the pitch for some time receiving treatment after racing back to make a last-ditch tackle on Brentford's right wing. Alan Judge and Andre Gray, who scored Brentford's goal in the first leg, both saw chances miss the target before the halfway point.
The visitors came flying out of the blocks in the opening minutes of the second 45, but as has been said so many times over the course of this season, Boro's defence held firm. Alan Judge fizzed a low cross across the face of goal while Alex Pritchard had a fairly half-hearted penalty shout waved away but, with ten minutes played, Boro killed the tie with a deserved second goal.
Good work from on-loan Belgium forward Jelle Vossen saw the ball drop to Kike inside the area, and the former Real Murcia man carried the ball through the centre of the penalty area past the stranded David Button before firing his finish into the roof of the net.
In the build-up to the game, Bees defender Harlee Dean had criticised Boro, claiming that "set-pieces and counter-attacks is all they've got". With the semi-final likely put to bed, "we only score from set-pieces" rang around the jubilant stands as the hosts continued to enjoy the greatest momentum, if not the most possession.
Adomah and Tomlin both had good chances to add a final layer of icing to the Boro cake, and with twelve minutes to play, the Ghana winger added a delightful third. Tomlin, Adomah and Vossen exchanged passes in a tight triangle inside the area to leave Adomah through where he took the ball past the keeper and lashed a left-footed shot in off the underside of the crossbar.
There was to be no late appearance for the injured Patrick Bamford from the bench, but Karanka did leave some room for emotion as Jonathan Woodgate was brought on as a substitute in the dying minutes of the game. The veteran defender, likely playing in the last game of his Boro career, drew the loudest cheers of the night with his introduction as the home fans made the most of a party atmosphere to sound their appreciation.
As the match drew to a close and the expected, if widely condemned, pitch invasion took place, the Bees players went to their fans to applaud after a clearly disappointing performance - and their fourth defeat to the Teessiders during this season alone.
It was a sour note for manager Mark Warburton to finish his Bees career, with the 52-year-old already having confirmed his departure from Griffin Park whatever his side's progress in the play-offs.
Meanwhile, Boro go on to Wembley to face the winner of Saturday's semi-final, currently tied at one-all between East Anglian rivals Ipswich and Norwich. The final will be played on Monday 25th of May, after the other Football League play-off finals over the course of the weekend.