Days like today are all about contrasts.

There are highs...

Image source, Reuters

There are lows...

Image source, Getty Images

But it's always exciting.

Thanks for your company today. Join us again for the start of the play-offs on Thursday!

Thought that was dramatic? It's not over yet!

Yes, Fulham, Aston Villa, Middlesbrough and Derby will contest the play-offs to decide who will be the third team to win promotion from the second tier.

Here are the all-important dates for those games:

Friday, 11 May (19:45 BST): Derby v Fulham

Saturday, 12 May (17:15 BST): Middlesbrough v Aston Villa

Monday, 14 May (19:45 BST): Fulham v Derby

Tuesday, 15 May (19:45 BST): Aston Villa v Middlesbrough

Saturday, 26 May: Final at Wembley

We'll have live text commentary of every match in the EFL play-offs on the BBC Sport website and app.

So Cardiff are promoted to the Premier League and are back in the top flight after four years away.

It will be Fulham v Derby and Aston Villa v Middlesbrough in the play-offs.

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Here's how the bottom of the table looks at the end of a draining afternoon...

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Jordan Ramsden: Morais had to go for me. Better to act quickly and hopefully get a new face in ahead of the summer. Rebuild and come back stronger. We did so last time and we will do so again!!

Cardiff midfielder Craig Bryson tells Sky Sports:

"Hopefully now this group of players at Cardiff will get some respect from the football world.

"Everyone's been talking about Fulham, but you can play football in many different ways."

Derby have one more thing to celebrate today - as well as securing a play-off place, striker Matej Vydra has clinched the Championship's Golden Boot award with his goal in the 4-1 win over Barnsley.

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Nigel Reo-Coker
Former West Ham midfielder on BBC Radio 5 live

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A large part of Neil Warnock's success is that personal touch, and I think that's something that's dying in the game.

With Neil Warnock, every club he's been at - you can see he has that personal connection with the players.

And having that - you inspire players to run the extra mile for you and play through the pain barrier, just because you have that personal relationship.

Image source, Getty Images

More from Burton Albion manager Nigel Clough on BBC Radio 5 live:

"The Championship's been brilliant for us over the past two seasons.

"To take this club to some special places when really what we're used to is non-league, has been great.

"We're back down to League One and that's all it is. We'll do everything in our power to get an honest side on the pitch and compete.

"We'll do it all in budget and come back determined to return to the Championship."

Nigel Reo-Coker
Former West Ham midfielder on BBC Radio 5 live

Image source, Rex Features

How can Bolton avoid this kind of scenario next season? I think it comes with careful planning - they really have to get a plan together about what's next for them.

At the top of that club, it's been topsy-turvy for a while and it's a very difficult situation to manage.

You need to have a core of players there for the long term, who know the values of the club and the connection to the fans. Then you build around that core, and that's something they need to do.

Mark Clemmit
BBC Sport

Image source, Getty Images

Why was there a relegation clause in Jose Morais' contract at Barnsley? Well, the club have got big plans. In hiring him, they went for a route that was very different to getting the local lad.

Maybe they wanted to hedge their bets and make sure they had a way out. But he did inherit a very difficult situation.

Image source, Dan Westwell

More from Bolton manager Phil Parkinson on BBC Radio 5 live:

"What a season it's been. To keep this club up on the last day is a bigger achievement than promotion from League One last year.

"There's been a transfer embargo and all sorts of off-field business that I don't want to go in to too much right now.

"I just want to pay tribute to the players and supporters who have kept going right through this season.

"Bolton has had tough times since coming out of the Premier League and we need to invest in this squad next year to ensure we're not in this sort of position next season."

Michael Appleton
Leicester City assistant manager on BBC Radio 5 live

There's a reason out there why people don't like Neil Warnock - and it's because he's successful.

The easiest thing in life is to be critical. A lot of the time, we want to dislike someone because he's successful - whether it's coming from opposition managers, fans, whoever.

He has a unique style, and it's a style unique to him. And it wins games.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Getty Images

Burton Albion manager Nigel Clough tells BBC Radio 5 live:

"Absolutely devastated when you're so close to survival, it's nobody's fault but our own.

"I'm sure the end was exciting for the neutrals, but not for us sadly.

"We went out positive in the second half and ultimately, that's where it cost us. We went out to win the game and put everyone else around us out of it.

"But we knew that Bolton were capable of getting late goals and Forest couldn't deal with it sadly."

Burton's loss at Preston meant the Brewers were unable to repeat their relative heroics of 2016-17, when they avoided relegation by a single point in what was their first season of second-tier football.

Nigel Clough’s side appeared doomed this term after a 5-0 home loss to Hull on 10 April left them bottom of the table, seven points below 21st place with just four matches remaining.

But consecutive victories against Derby County, Sunderland and Bolton followed to give Burton real hope of another escape.

They were outside the bottom three until the very closing stages of today's match, but Bolton's comeback against Nottingham Forest and then the concession of a late Louis Moult goal meant they would suffer a relegation for the first time in 41 years.

For former Derby and Sheffield United boss Clough, it is the first time he has suffered relegation in his 20-year managerial career, 14 seasons of which have been spent with Burton.

Image source, PA

Birmingham City manager Garry Monk told BBC Radio 5 live: "We understood that we were playing against one of the most in-form teams in the country, but since I've come in we've put the focus on ourselves.

"The players are much more capable than they've shown this season. The last thing I said was 'we need to finish this on our terms, rather than relying on someone else' and we've got the job done.

"There are huge clubs in this league and Birmingham's one of them. Everyone needs to learn from top to bottom from the mistakes that have been made, and they need to be corrected. That's why I've got a good feeling. I told them very clearly that I'll be relentless with that - the club should not be in this position and we need to put things in place going forward.

"It's a great club, it really is. Everyone's been together and we've fought through it. Now we need to build on it and take it away. Three of the last four seasons, the club's been fighting relegation - it can't be that way."

Mark Clemmit
BBC Sport

Sympathies to Burton, but also to Barnsley. Probably, they've just sold one too many of their assets. So many of their players have departed so quickly.

I think the hand Paul Heckingbottom had to pick up - later Jose Morais - has probably been left a little too thin, for all the coffers have been swelled along the way.

Image source, Dan Westwell

Bolton manager Phil Parkinson tells BBC Radio 5 live:

"Strange things happen on the last day and we knew had to keep going right until the end.

"It's funny what can happen when you need to get a goal in those situations.

"We were across what was happening elsewhere right through the afternoon and when we got the third goal, you could tell from the crowd's reaction what it meant and that we'd done it.

"Once we got the third goal, we had to batten down the hatches and defend a few corners as we knew absolutely anything could still happen."

Rob Davidson: Boro the form team heading in to the playoffs.

Ross Bone: I don’t think I’ve ever used the phrase “as it stands” as much as I have today. The Championship finale was absolutely incredible.

Michael Appleton
Leicester City assistant manager on BBC Radio 5 live

I think we'll have to see a different Cardiff City in the Premier League next season. But Neil Warnock's been there before - he's a wily old fox. He knows how to win games.