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15th May 2005 will go down as one of the most dramatic days in Premiership history. With no one condemned to relegation going into the last day, four clubs were fighting it out for a single place worth £25 million. With drama that only football can produce, the club that was bottom at the start of the day, got that all important 17th spot. This is the story of how the day unfolded.

At the start of the day, Norwich were in the driving seat while Albion could only hope.
	3.00pm
	Pos		GD	Pts
	17	Norwich City	-29	33
	18	Southampton	-20	32
	19	Crystal Palace	-21	32
	20	West Bromwich Albion	-27	31
Within ten minutes, things started to go Albion's way but soon turned against them. Fulham scored against Norwich before Southampton took the lead against Man Utd. That meant that Southampton were in the comfort zone for the time being.
	3.11pm
	Pos		GD	Pts
	17	Southampton	-19	35
	18	Crystal Palace	-21	33
	19	Norwich	-30	33
	20	West Bromwich Albion	-27	32
Man United soon equalised and Albion fans received further good news when both Charlton and Fulham scored. Unfortunately, despite avid support from both sets of supporters, the Albion players were failing to produce on the pitch and Pompey looked the more likely scorer in the first half. Nonetheless, as we reached half time, Norwich looked to be out of the picture and the fact remained that an Albion goal would put them in the driving seat.
	3.50pm
	Pos		GD	Pts
	17	Southampton	-20	33
	18	Norwich	-31	33
	19	Crystal Palace	-22	32
	20	West Bromwich Albion	-27	32
And then the fun started. Norwich went 3-0 behind before Robson made a genius subsitution in bringing on Geoff Horsfield. He scored with his first touch to put Albion ahead. The Portsmouth fans were every bit as enthusiastic in their celebrations as the home fans as, at that point, it put the Saints back into the bottom three. At almost the same moment, Dougie Freedman equalised for Palace but Albion were still in the safety spot.
	4.19pm
	Pos		GD	Pts
	17	West Bromwich Albion	-26	34
	19	Southampton	-20	33
	19	Crystal Palace	-21	33
	20	Norwich	-32	33
It was going from bad to worse for Saints fans. After hearing news of the Albion and Palace goals, they themselves conceded again. Norwich were clinging on to the hope that Charlton and Portsmouth would score as that would keep them up.
Then, with twenty minutes left, the dream was shattered when Palace were awarded yet another penalty that was converted by Andy Johnson. Kieran Richardson's goal a few minutes later was greeted with little more than polite applause as the Great Escape seemed to be slipping away. With ten minutes to go, the table stood as follows:
	4.40pm
	Pos		GD	Pts
	17	Crystal Palace	-20	35
	18	West Bromwich Albion	-25	34
	19	Norwich	-33	33
	20	Southampton	-21	32
I was glued to the radio with a dozen or so other fans watching my reactions as the action on the pitch became more and more of a sideshow. It was all Palace according to the commentary and Dean Kiely pulled off a few good saves. With eight minutes left, Palace conceded a soft free kick near the box. Should I tell those around me? I thought - no, it'll probably come to nothing... The ball goes in ... Fortune gets a head to it ... IT'S THERE!!! Charlton have somehow fashioned an equaliser!
	4.45pm
	Pos		GD	Pts
	17	West Bromwich Albion	-25	34
	18	Crystal Palace	-21	33
	19	Norwich	-34	33
	20	Southampton	-21	32
The last few minutes was agony as we awaited the final whistle from the Valley. The whistle went at the Hawthorns and the players stayed on the pitch awaiting the news. Eventually it came, and the party could start!!

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