Sheffield United 0 Wolverhampton Wanderers 3
Wolverhampton Wanderers have ended a 19 year wait to return to top flight football with a thumping three nil win over fellow Premiership hopefuls Sheffiled United, in the Millenium Stadium, Cardiff.
Wolves, by far the better team throughout, had the match effectively won by halftime with goals from Mark Kennedy (6), Nathan Blake (22) and Kenny Miller (45) on a day when the Blades were truly blunted.
Their manager Neil Warnock was banished from the dugout after a halftime rant at the officials and two minutes into the second half they wasted a great chance of getting back into the match when Michael Brown's weak penalty, after a Paul Butler handball, was easily saved by Wolves goalkeeper Matt Murray.
The victory was especially sweet for the long-suffering Wolves' fans whose club were once among the giants of the English game, winning the title three times in the 1950s.
They have been close to going up a number of times over the years, especially last season when they blew what looked like certain promotion, allowing their arch-rivals West Bromwich Albion to go up instead.
Now the roles are reversed with Wolves promoted and WBA relegated back to the first division. Wolves went ahead after only six minutes when Kennedy powered home a sweetly-struck left-foot shot from 22 metres after collecting a pass from Miller following a Blake knock-down.
United had come from behind to avoid defeat 15 times this season, but their task was made far more difficult when Wolves doubled their lead in the 22nd minute.
Colin Cameron, running through the middle before shooting, forced United keeper Paddy Kenny into conceding a corner with a dive to his right, and Wolves doubled the lead as a result.
An inswinging corner from Kennedy was flicked on by Paul Ince for Blake to head in from six metres. It was the Welsh international's 14th goal of the season, against one of his former clubs and scored in the city of his birth, and rarely can he have scored a more important goal.
Wolves escaped when their keeper Murray was forced into diving full length to keep out what would have been a headed own goal from Ince, but they recovered their composure quickly and went 3-0 ahead just before the interval.
United failed to deal with a Wolves attack, allowing Shaun Newton to cross into the heart of the United area, and Miller pounced to sweep home from less than six metres.