It was billed as the ultimate must-win game.

Five years ago today, Albion were preparing to face Middlesbrough in a last-day showdown and only victory would do.

A 1-1 draw left Boro heading up and the Seagulls feeling heartbroken. And with a sense of injustice at Dale Stephens’ red card.

There was still a second chance of reaching the Premier League.

“Good luck in the play-offs,” one Teesside reporter said in the tiny press room at the Riverside as we waited to hear from Chris Hughton and Aitor Karanka.

Deep down, and this is not said with the benefit of hindsight, it felt even then that the chance had gone as Albion returned home still in third place.

So it proved. A well-rested, well-prepared, fully fit Sheffield Wednesday did not kill the dream as they should have done in the first leg of the play-offs at Hillsborough.

But they held on at the Amex and could be heard singing in celebration two rooms away as we awaited another depressed post-game meeting with Hughton.

But must-win at the Riverside? Five years on, the bigger picture and, again, hindsight says maybe not.

Albion, their morale and togetherness fuelled by that near miss, went up a year later.

They could well secure a fifth successive top-flight season this weekend.

And yet, looking back five years, rarely has a battling draw with ten men away to the second-placed team left you feeling so empty.

Middlesbrough came straight back down a year later.

Hull, who went up in the play-offs, spent this season in League One.

Sheffield Wednesday could well be in League One next season.

So were Albion better off for staying down a year? Were they stronger, wiser and better a year on?

The Argus:

“It was more of a wise thing and pure determination,” says goalkeeper David Stockdale (pictured above), now of Wycombe.

“A lot of lads were fired up to get through the play-offs and wanted to put it right and then the next season we wanted it because of what happened season the before.”

Albion added two pillars of recent years in Shane Duffy and Glenn Murray for the following season.

They got off to a slower start than in 2015-16 but eventually picked up four more points over the season.

“No regrets as it made the story and journey even better,” Stockdale added, even though he never got to play in the Prem.

What about the game itself?

Albion’s draw at home to Derby the previous Monday was costly.

It meant they needed to win at the Riverside, rather than draw, and a red card cost them the services of Lewis Dunk, although he still travelled to support the squad.

After that Derby game, Hughton had a theory he would rather his side were chasing a win anyway, rather than playing for a draw.

It was good, positive thinking.

But the flipside is surely you would rather require less rather than more.

Boro were the better team in the first half and should have led through more than a Cristhian Stuani tap-in.

But Stephens headed Albion level, only to then be harshly sent off as he went for a bouncing ball in midfield.

Liam Rosenior stopped for interviews on the way out and was in defiant mood.

Team-mates had stares fixed firmly on the tarmac ahead as they headed quickly to the team coach.

You wanted to believe Albion could lift themselves for the play-offs but it felt like the chance had gone.

That they instead lifted themselves during the summer showed real backbone.

“We had a good group. Unified and with a common, very clear aim,” skipper Bruno said later.

“Going into the Middlesbrough game I felt good, not nervous. Excited. It was a unique experience.

“But we were a stronger team the following year. We went up at the best time. It was our moment.”

The near miss at Boro possibly cost Bruno a year in the Prem but the wait might have been for the best for the club – if you can look past the money for 2016-17 on which they missed out.

Bruno added: “It worked out well, The club and team are in a good place now.”

Back home, fans who had been watching on TV were able to console themselves with a glorious weekend, weather-wise, and think of summer as temperatures nudged the mid-20s.

On Teesside, it was grey, spitting with rain and unpleasant as the mercury stubbornly remained in single figures.

HOW THINGS WILL WORK FOR THE 8,000 AT ALBION V MAN CITY

As the afternoon dragged on, central Middlesbrough did not feel like a town in celebration.

Streets were largely empty, apart from a occasional small group of football fans heading to a pub.

ALBION ARE UNDER NO PRESSURE TO SELL STARS

Empty plastic pint ‘glasses’ which had held beer were blown down the street by the chill wind.

For Stockdale, it will be back to the Boro tomorrow for a “must-win” game with Wycombe.

Albeit “must win by about 13 goals” to stay in the Championship.

Not exactly the same scenario but Stockdale, who received a Good Luck call from Shay Given five years ago, still has his memories.

“After the game was tough,” he said. “But we focused on the play-offs and, after what happened there, we got together and made sure we made the next season count.”