CHAMPIONSHIP PLAY-OFF FINAL: Swansea City 4 Reading FC 2:SWANSEA CITY careered into the Premier League with exactly the kind of frenetic approach they dare not repeat too often if they are to survive in the top flight.

This, all the same, was not a day in which calls for prudence could be heeded. They would not have been heard in a raucous occasion, where Scott Sinclair scored a hat-trick to secure victory.

It took the second of his penalties to break Reading’s spirit 10 minutes from the close. Fans of the victors had no grievances then about the way in which a 3-0 lead had been eroded.

Reading – who had Irish trio Ian Harte, Noel Hunt and Shane Long on from the start – were far too vulnerable throughout the match. It would have been exhausting to combat their own unreliability as well as Brendan Rogers’s team.

Even so, no neutral would have been inclined to complain.

Sinclair thrived in this open game, making it seem extraordinary that he came to Swansea from Chelsea last summer for €576,000 following loan spells to various clubs. Swansea should be overjoyed to trigger the clause that will probably take the fee to €1 million.

There was a phase in which Sinclair might have been pushed to the margins of the story. Swansea were taken aback when they conceded two goals so soon after bearing a 3-0 lead to the dressingroom at the interval.

Such a lapse was one more reason to wonder what they will make of the Premier League, but the proceeds to be found there could bring a sharp change in attitude, personnel and tactics.

Swansea are the first Welsh club to enter the Premier League since its inception in 1992.

There is to be an influx of money and it would be prudent to put a priority on footballers capable of resistance. If the methods witnessed at Wembley were repeated, they would be patronised, as Blackpool have been, for a colourfulness that meant they could not piece together a good enough points total.

This was a long haul to glory.

After 48 matches in the Championship and play-offs Swansea had to resist a Reading recovery. They held on for a time after Brian McDermott’s side scored twice but struck again to secure the win.

It was an incredible way for Antrim man Brendan Rodgers to complete his first season as Swansea City manager. They did so, above all, because of Sinclair.

Reading’s hopes evaporated in the 80th minute. Andy Griffin needlessly felled Fabio Borini and Sinclair once more guided the penalty to the goalkeeper’s right.

There was logic to the outcome since Swansea had prevailed in both meetings with Reading in the regular season, but the 1-0 margins had suggested strain and tension of a different sort than we witnessed at Wembley.

Swansea looked for a time as if they might spend the whole occasion reeling off goals. The Reading centre half Zurab Khizanishvili was in such distress that he could have had a red card instead of a single caution. It was the Georgian who brought down Nathan Dyer and Sinclair sent the goalkeeper Adam Federici the wrong way with the first of his penalties in the 21st minute.

The scorer added a further goal a minute later, knocking the ball home, with Federici able only to tip a low ball from Stephen Dobbie into his path. In the 45th minute Khizanishvili floundered once more by diverting the ball so that Dobbie could put his name on the scoresheet. Reading were in such disarray then that it did not seem so surprising that the referee, Phil Dowd, should send the assistant manager, Nigel Gibbs, and the substitute Jay Tabb to the stands at the interval following comments made to him in the tunnel.

The passion was put to better use by an eager and suddenly incisive Reading following the interval. Joe Allen was credited with an own goal after Hunt’s header from a Jobi McAnuff corner broke off him. A further corner would see Matt Mills score for Reading in the 57th minute, but nothing was to eclipse Sinclair and his team-mates.

Guardian Service

SWANSEA:De Vries, Rangel, Monk, Williams, Tate, Dyer, Britton (Gower 77), Dobbie (Pratley 55), Allen (Moore 89), Sinclair, Borini. Subs not used: Ma-Kalambay, Beattie, Serran, Richards. Booked: Borini, Allen, Gower.

READING:Federici, Griffin (Robson-Kanu 84), Mills, Khizanishvili, Harte, Kebe, Karacan, Leigertwood, McAnuff, Long, Hunt (Church 76). Subs not used: McCarthy, Tabb, Howard, Cummings, Pearce. Sent Off: Tabb (46). Booked: Griffin, Khizanishvili, McAnuff.

Referee:Phil Dowd (Staffordshire).

Sinclair 21 pen, 22, 80 pen

Dobbie 40

Allen 49 og

Mills 57

Att:86,581