Port Vale 1-0 Swindon Town (agg 2-2): Vale win 6-5 on penalties to set up play-off final against Mansfield
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Port Vale's fans invaded the pitch after their side won the penalty shootout - but the celebrations were marred by reports of Swindon players being "verbally and physically abused"
Port Vale squeezed through to the League Two play-off final as they beat Swindon Town 6-5 on penalties on a dramatic night in Burslem.
After James Wilson's early strike rewarded a lively Vale start to cancel out their 2-1 first-leg deficit, there were no further goals.
After half an hour of extra time, in which home boss Darrell Clarke was sent off following a mass altercation, it went to spot kicks.
And although they had two of their first three penalties saved, Vale then held their nerve.
Mal Benning scored their sixth spot-kick before Ellis Iandolo blazed over to earn the hosts their meeting with Mansfield in the final at Wembley on Saturday, 28 May.
Vale fans rushed on to the pitch in celebration, but the scenes turned sour as BBC Radio Stoke reported that missiles, including bottles, were thrown between the home and Swindon supporters, while Robins boss Ben Garner said his players had been "verbally and physically abused" by home fans as they tried to leave the pitch.
The scenes came only two days after Sheffield United captain Billy Sharp was headbutted at the end of his side's penalty shootout defeat by Nottingham Forest.
Forest season ticket holder Robert Biggs, 30, was jailed for 24 weeks on Thursday after pleading guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
After trailing only 2-1 from the away leg thanks to Wilson's late goal at the County Ground, Vale maintained that buoyancy from Wiltshire on Sunday in a stunning start.
The hosts took just eight minutes to level the tie, although it could have come even quicker.
From stand-in striker Kian Harratt's knockdown, Wilson somehow skewed his left-foot close-range shot wide at the far post.
But almost immediately he got a chance to reprieve himself when Vale again attacked down the left through David Worrall, who found Harratt in the box and when he squared across, Wilson's left foot this time proved more trustworthy from close range.
James Wilson's early strike at Vale Park was the only goal of the second leg, resulting in a penalty shoot out
Defender Nathan Smith then clipped the outside of the post and it needed Iandolo's outstretched leg to deny Wilson at the far post.
But the early Vale storm gradually receded, at last allowing Swindon a foothold in the contest.
Real chances became hard to come by and Swindon had only one effort on target in the 90 minutes when defender Mathieu Baudry's shot was tipped over by Aidan Stone.
The inevitability of extra time seemed assured a long way out. And, when the game did enter the extra half hour, the boiling point came off the pitch when players and officials of both sides squared up on the touch line, after Clarke appeared to lock heads with Dion Conroy.
It resulted in a red card for home manager Clarke and a yellow for the visiting captain. But the drama was only just beginning.
The shootout appeared to be heading Swindon's way when Worrall and Ryan Edmondson both had their penalties saved by Robins keeper Ward.
But Swindon top scorer and former Vale striker Harry McKirdy immediately fired his penalty over the bar, before Stone saved from Josh Davison to send it to sudden death.
Port Vale boss Darrell Clarke told BBC Radio Stoke:
"Penalties aren't down to luck. It's about practising them and that's what we did.
"We were two goals down in the tie but these lads never know when they're beaten. And it was a bit ironic that it went to penalties when we haven't had one in over a year.
"It should make for a right good tear-up at Wembley (against Mansfield). It's my hometown club and the place where my eldest daughter was born, so it will be an emotional day."
Swindon Town manager Ben Garner told BBC Radio Wiltshire:
"We can play a lot better than what we did without a shadow of a doubt and we have done regularly this season.
"It's been a monumental effort, not just from the start of the season. But this last run of games where we've had to win back-to-back games and go into the play-offs and we haven't got a big squad.
"The players have given everything and unfortunately we've just fallen short today.
"Very bitter pill to swallow that I thought we had a penalty. Quite a clear handball and then their goal's offside. But I have to say, that sums up the refereeing we've had this season.
"To go 120 minutes and not score and didn't have our usual threat, but like I say I think the effort that's been put in has been incredible, it really has.
"Those players in that dressing room, the majority of whom had no pre-season, there they are in the play-offs playing 120 minutes and going all the way to penalties."