It was Aston Villa who scraped through to the final of the Championship's play-offs, beating local rivals West Brom on penalties after the Baggies won the match 1-0. 

Craig Dawson's first half header swung the momentum firmly in the favour of the hosts, levelling the scores 2-2 on aggregate but is how it would remain for 90 minutes.

In the 80th minute, Chris Brunt went flying into a tackle on John McGinn on the edge of the West Brom box, earning him a second-yellow card in the process and making extra-time far easier than it could have been for Dean Smith's side.

And after an uneventful 30 minutes, it was penalties, and with Jed Steer saving from Mason Holgate and Ahmed Hegazi, it eventually fell to Tammy Abraham to seal the win which he did with ease.

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After a night that started so promisingly but ended in devastation, what is their for the club to learn?

Here are THREE things...

Fitness struggles 

After being demanded so much of over the course of two legs, the fitness of the Baggies' players seriously caught up with them.

Jay Rodriguez and Stefan Johansen were both withdrawn after emptying their respective tanks, depriving them of two first-choice penalty takers if nothing else.

Stupid Brunt 

The West Brom fans will have wanted to see their players go out with the bit between their teeth, but Brunt perhaps crossed the line.

The experienced midfielder was flying into tackles from the off and after picking up a yellow card just after the hour mark, you would hope he would be able to keep his cool.

But instead, when the Baggies should have been exerting the utmost pressure on their opponents he picked up another ludicrous yellow card, scuppering their decent chances of winning the match in normal time.

Impressive defence

Considering they came into the match with a lead, Villa certainly did not sit back at all.

But, the trio of Craig Dawson, Kyle Bartley and Ahmed Hegazy held impressively firm at the back, largely limiting their opponents to shots from distance.

And when a chance did come their way, most notably to Albert Adomah in the second half, Sam Johnstone was more than equal to it.