COMMISERATIONS to Cardiff City and all the other teams that will live and learn from the cruellest games this year, but the playoffs remain the best and most exciting way to settle matters in every division with promotion at stake.

If County are to take anything from their Wembley experience on Saturday it should be a desire to ensure it’s not a one-off, because as opponents York are proving, holding your nerve at the end of the season can be worth so much more.

A few weeks ago the Minstermen weren’t even certainties to make the playoffs after Kidderminster’s stunning comeback win over County, but now York are 90 minutes away from returning to League Two.

Standing in their way are their old mates Luton Town – ha – who themselves only squeezed into the playoffs in the final week of the league campaign. Yet they’ve already dispatched Wrexham, unlucky not to be promoted automatically.

I will frankly never, ever understand why three teams aren’t promoted from the Conference rather than two, but while that remains the case I will hold out hope that the Exiles can take advantage of the playoffs.

Unless a sugar daddy is found – and there are a few lottery millions in the city – then automatic promotion will remain unlikely for a club of County’s means.

But the playoffs? The chance to sneak in with a good late run in the season and get into the promotion picture? That should be exactly Newport’s aim for the next season or two.

One must only look at Stevenage Borough to provide the inspiration that anything is possible. Automatically promoted from the Conference Stevenage then won promotion from League Two at the very first attempt and at the weekend a goal from former County man Craig Reid put them into the playoffs with a chance to make it to the Championship.

If there were no playoffs Stevenage might still be in League Two, the end of season showcase rewarding them for competitive seasons and have nerves of steel over the final furlongs.

There is no bigger myth in football than the one that projects the notion that the playoffs and or a penalty shoot-out are, and I quote, “a lottery”. Pure and utter hot garbage. If they really are like a lottery then sign me up for the opportunity to become a multi-millionaire. If my chances are one in four, I reckon that within six weeks I should have scooped the jackpot at least once, maybe twice.

The playoffs might represent football at its cruellest with so much at stake for one off games, but this football fan wouldn’t have it any other way.

If County get to Wembley again and fail to find promotion, there will be no boo-hooing from me, just an appreciation of the fact that they had their chance and hopefully that it will come again.

The playoffs may be cruel in the eyes of a Cardiff fan, but West Ham followers off to Wembley for the first time in 21-years are unlikely to share the sentiment. The cruellest game? Sure. But as far as Newport County are concerned, sign me up for the Conference playoff final in May. And in the meantime, the FA Trophy final will do just fine. Enjoy your day one and all, nothing more to say now other than, I will see you there.