Year's a long time for Mark

CARDIFF captain Mark Hudson admits leading the Welsh club out at Wembley in the Coca-Cola Championship play-off final will be "the greatest occasion" of his career just 12 months after suffering relegation from the division.

The centre-half skippered the Bluebirds to a 4-3 penalty shoot-out triumph over Leicester last night with the two sides level 3-3 on aggregate after extra time in their semi-final second leg. The 28-year-old is now set for a one-off showdown against Blackpool for the right to play in the Barclays Premier League next season.

And having experienced relegation to League One with Charlton this time last season, Hudson cannot believe how things have panned out. He said: "I'd much rather be on this side of the tape for sure. It does happen in football, you get lots of highs and lots of lows. Hopefully we can end it on a high."