Cheltenham Town withstood heavy first-half pressure before goals from Jermaine McGlashan and Marlon Pack confirmed their place in the League Two play-off final with a 2-1 win on Thursday night and a 4-1 aggregate victory over Torquay United.
Trailing 2-0 from the first leg, Torquay came flying out of the blocks and the Town goalkeeper Scott Brown was forced into a series of impressive saves within the opening half hour. But McGlashan effectively settled the tie with a quarter of an hour remaining.
The Torquay substitute Taiwo Atieno levelled matters on the night before Pack rifled home a magnificent 87th minute free-kick from 30 yards.
Mark Yates's men travel to Wembley next Sunday to face Crewe.
McGlashan was narrowly off target with a rasping 30-yard drive in the early stages before his side were forced to withstand a first-half onslaught.
Brown was the outstanding performer of the opening 45 minutes, and he got his night's work underway by tipping a Eunan O'Kane effort over following some deft footwork from the Torquay midfielder.
The Gulls headed into the contest without top scorer Rene Howe due to a hamstring injury, but they were not short on attacking threat, ably demonstrated when Ryan Jarvis burst into the box and forced Brown to push behind with a superb low block.
From the resulting corner, the Cheltenham defender Keith Lowe fortuitously cleared via the post as he looked to hack clear from his own goalmouth and Brian Saah fired the loose ball wide.
Brown's best moment came courtesy of another low stop in the 27th minute when Mark Ellis' first-time shot from Stevens' pass emerged cleanly from a crowd of bodies.
The Cheltenham striker James Spencer might have done better when he fired straight at the Torquay goalkeeper Robert Olejnik after the half hour, but it was at least an indication that Yates's men had weathered the storm.
There was drama a minute before the interval as the Torquay full-back Kevin Nicholson's sweetly struck free-kick rattled the crossbar with Brown rooted to the spot.
The visitors immediately sprung up the other end and Olejnik stood firm to deny Kaid Mohamed.
Cheltenham began the second half with greater purpose and Olejnik gathered at the second attempt when McGlashan looked to clip home from an acute angle at the end of a mazy run.
O'Kane's 54th minute header looped up off the Robins defender Alan Bennett to force Brown into another superb save, but it soon became clear that Torquay's early attacking verve had deserted them.
Mohamed hit a swerving shot over after a mazy run down the Torquay left by the Cheltenham full-back Sido Jombati before the decisive moment arrived in the 74th minute.
Mohamed was allowed to ease infield after collecting Ben Burgess' pass and he played in McGlashan, who stabbed home via Olejnik's boot and the inside of the far post.
Atieno reduced the aggregate arrears when he was left unmarked to glance in a near-post header from O'Kane's 85th minute corner.
However, Pack applied the gloss in memorable fashion when he found the top corner after Saah fouled Jeff Goulding. Read More
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