TOWN captain Efe Sodje today revealed his anguish at missing out on the club's promotion celebrations.
The 31-year-old defender was carried off on a stretcher suffering a neck injury with just a minute of extra-time to play in Monday's play-off final against Mansfield.
After eight minutes of treatment on the pitch under the supervision of Town's club doctor Michael Taylor, the Nigerian World Cup player was immediately rushed to hospital for precautionary checks which revealed he was fine.
He was laying immobilised in an ambulance when Lee Fowler crashed in the winning penalty of the shoot-out, however, and missed out on collecting his medal, lifting the trophy and doing a lap of honour in front of 23,000 delirious fans.
"My only concern when I was in the ambulance was to find out if the final whistle had blown with the score 0-0, because then my job was done," said Sodje, man-of-the-match.
"I knew I wasn't one of the designated penalty takers and I had every confidence in the lads that they would win the shoot-out.
"It wasn't until later, when I was in the hospital, that I found out we'd won and I was obviously delighted.
"But when we got home and I watched it all back on Sky TV, I was really upset that I'd missed all the presentations and celebrating with the lads and the supporters.
"I realised, too, that I'd never be on any of the great pictures that were taken or any of the TV footage and that's disappointing, because they would be great memories to have."
Sodje was accompanied to the hospital by his doctor wife, Susannah, and their driver Len McGarry.
By the time he was released at 8.30pm that evening, Town's team bus had already left the Millennium Stadium and was heading back towards Yorkshire with the Nationwide Trophy proudly standing on the dashboard.
Sodje has still to receive his medal - Town are also applying for one for Jonathan Stead - and he says it will be a special moment to wear it around that neck which caused everyone such concern in the closing moments of the first ever 0-0 draw in a one-off play-off final.
"I was focused on the man I was marking and I didn't realise until I saw it on TV that Colin Larkin just ran straight into me," he said. My head just jerked straight back and I could feel some pain, so I was told not to move when I was laying on the pitch. I just tried to stay as still as possible as they got me ready to go on the stretcher and then it was off to hospital.
"Like I said, I was more concerned at the time that we didn't concede in that last minute, because I knew there wasn't long to go. But I said when I first came to the club that we'd win promotion, and I was right. It's fantastic considering how we were at the start of it all."
