A prize worth £10 million and rising came down to a penalty shoot-out yesterday. It was a desperately perverse way to send a team to the Premiership but for Charlton, a club who refused to die and who declined every invitation to surrender on the day, this was a triumph to remember for a long, long time.

One could not make it up. Even a hat-trick from Clive Mendonca, the Charlton striker who produced a masterful exhibition of the scoring art at the expense of the team he supported as a boy, was not sufficient to carry off the spoils. These brave, unflagging teams remained all square after 120 dramatic minutes and then matched each other stroke for stroke as they put away their five regulation penalties.

So it came down to sudden death. These athletes are handsomely paid but surely should not have to endure such a climax to a 49-game league season.

After three more successful attempts the role of tragic fall-guy fell to Michael Gray, who rolled an under-hit shot at Sasa Ilic, the 6ft 4in barrier filling the Charlton goal.

Feelings from neutrals last night lay with the young Sunderland defender. One simple mistake and 10 months of endeavour is turned to waste.

For Charlton, splendidly managed by Alan Curbishley, this heart-stopping victory marks the peak of a decade spent fighting for their lives and their Valley ground. It will concern them little that the bookmakers have installed them at 150-1 for the Premiership title.

"How do we recover after that?" Curbishley said. "I felt it was an important time when we got it back to 2-2 and the defences were all over the place.

"And then we got to the penalties and we hadn't practised penalties except for a bit of fun at the end of training and four out of the five who took those penalties didn't even take them today."

Defeat left the Wearsiders to make the same head-down walk along Wembley Way as Newcastle and Middlesbrough in recent weeks.

Sunderland held the lead twice in the second half and again put their noses in front at the start of extra-time. But, with Mendonca's right foot serving him and his team so well, a one-goal advantage was never going to be enough.

Mendonca's first goal midway through the first half, after a sharp turn to outwit Jody Craddock, gave no hint of the thrilling events about to unfold.

Sunderland had looked unlikely to penetrate a defence which had stood firm for 14 hours. But three times they unravelled that record-breaking rearguard before the clock signalled 90 minutes.

When a corner was needlessly given away, Niall Quinn ducked low to direct his header in at the near post. He then blazed over before Kevin Phillips, collecting Kevin Ball's firm forward header, found room to glance the ball home. It was his 35th goal of the season and saw him overtake Brian Clough's long-standing club record.

Quinn's second, an unerring volley dispatched at the far post, came with 17 minutes remaining and was an instant response to the pick of Mendonca's three. Flanked by two defenders he brought the ball down before splendidly easing it beyond Lionel Perez.

Leading 3-2 with only five minutes remaining, Sunderland thought they were home but Perez came a long way for a corner he could never reach and Richard Rufus headed in. It was a timely moment for the defender to register his first goal for the club.

In extra-time Nicky Summerbee finished off a move begun by Gray and helped on by Quinn, but at the back Peter Reid's team were still vulnerable to the Mendonca menace, and from Steve Jones's cross he needed only the slightest room to become the first player to score a hat-trick in a play-off final.