Bradford booked a return to the top flight of English football for the first time in 77 years after coming from behind to beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 3-2 at Molineux yesterday.
The northerner's success means Ipswich - 4-1 victors against Sheffield United at Portman Road - go into the lottery of the playoffs and a clash with Bolton while the other semi-finalists are Birmingham and Watford.
At the other end of the table, Bury and Oxford suffered relegation to the second division, joining Bristol City. Bradford showed great resilience to recover from the setback of trailing to a 12th-minute goal by Havard Flo which was awarded despite an apparent foul by Robbie Keane on goalkeeper Gary Walsh.
A dreadful defensive mix-up created an opening for Peter Beagrie, whose fine individual effort levelled the scores. Lee Mills grabbed his 25th goal of the season after being put through by Robbie Blake, who got Bradford's third on 64 minutes.
Bradford wasted a chance to make the game safe when Beagrie missed a penalty, and then Paul Simpson pulled one back for Wolves, who also struck the woodwork with a Carl Robinson free-kick.
Ipswich did everything asked of them at Portman Road as goals from Jim Magilton, James Scowcroft, Kieron Dyer and Richard Naylor gave them a 4-1 win, with Blackburn striker George Donis pulling one back for United.
But the result at Molineux means Ipswich have the nail-biting business of the play-offs for the third season in a row.
Watford knew they were in the driving seat as they attempted to beat Wolves to the play-offs and they kept their nerve better as Peter Kennedy's first-period winner earned Graham Taylor's side a 1-0 win against Grimsby.
Bolton earned a chance of going up through the back door after a 2-0 victory at Portsmouth, with Michael Johansen and Eidur Gudjohnson getting the goals.
Birmingham's visit to the Stadium of Light had looked to be a potentially crucial game earlier in the season, but it proved to be rather academic with Sunderland already promoted as champions and Birmingham in the play-offs.
The Blues took the lead with a first-half goal by Martin Grainger but were pulled back by strikes from the first division's select XI strike-force, Kevin Phillips and Niall Quinn.
QPR saved themselves in the most spectacular style, beating London rivals Crystal Palace 6-0 at Loftus Road with Chris Kiwomya grabbing a hat-trick.
Palace finished with nine men, Fan Zhiyi and David Woozley getting their marching orders. Fan Zhiyi could be in hot water after being dismissed for allegedly pushing referee Paul Rejer.
Oxford needed a 4-0 home win against Stockport as well as hoping other results went their way. To their credit, Oxford played their part as goals from Paul Gilchrist, Paul Powell, Joey Beauchamp, Matt Murphy and Andy Thompson made it 5-0.
Bury's 1-0 win against Port Vale, thanks to a Dean West goal, was not enough to prevent them returning to the second division.
Barnsley, who this time last year were on their way down after a season in the Premiership, recovered from 1-0 down to beat Swindon 3-1 at the County Ground.
Tranmere finished a difficult season in which relegation was once a distinct possibility by beating West Brom 3-1 at Prenton Park.
