Middlesbrough 0-2 Norwich City

Norwich City secured an instant return to the Premier League with victory over Middlesbrough in the Championship play-off final at Wembley.

In a match worth a potential £120m to the victors, Cameron Jerome took advantage of a Daniel Ayala error to put the Canaries ahead.

It was 2-0 after 15 minutes when Nathan Redmond arrowed a shot into the corner.

Jelle Vossen came closest for Boro when he struck the bar, but their six-year absence from the top flight continues.

Victory for the Canaries in front of more than 85,000 fans is the culmination of a remarkable run of results under manager Alex Neil.

The 33-year-old was unheralded in England, but presided over Hamilton's promotion to the Scottish Premiership last season. That was enough for him to be given the chance to replace Neil Adams at Carrow Road in January, with the club seventh in the table and three points off the play-offs.

Neil oversaw victory in his maiden game in charge against eventual league champions Bournemouth, the first of 17 wins in 25 games during his tenure, and will now become the youngest manager in England's top flight, beating Swansea's 36-year-old boss Garry Monk.

For his opposite number Aitor Karanka and Boro, though, it ends a season that had promised so much, built on the meanest defence in the league, conceding 37 goals in 46 games.

Karanka, the former assistant manager to Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho at Real Madrid, has also seen a great deal of improvement during his 18 months in charge after taking over from Tony Mowbray in November 2013 with the side 16th in the table.

But, in a game referred to as the 'richest in football', his side fell short thanks to three first-half minutes when Norwich scored twice.

Given the weight of pressure, it was an understandably nervy opening but the game sprang into life when both sides hit the crossbar within 30 seconds of each other.

First, Norwich midfielder Bradley Johnson powered a left-foot volley against the bar, only for Boro to go straight down the other end and rattle the woodwork themselves with Vossen's delightful long-range effort.

Boro had arrived at Wembley late after being stuck in traffic, and their lack of preparation time may well have had a hand in gifting Norwich the opening goal.

Ex-Canaries defender Ayala dithered on the ball down their right, allowing Norwich top scorer Jerome to nick it off him, run into the area and calmly slot past Dimi Konstantopoulos at his near post for his 21st of the season.

And only three minutes later, Norwich, unbeaten on the road under Neil, were 2-0 up against a side who had kept 22 clean sheets this campaign.

Steven Whittaker played a great ball into the channel for Redmond and the England Under-21 winger struck home a low effort past a despairing Konstantopoulos to send one end of Wembley into an unexpectedly early ecstasy.

Boro struggled to get any sort of foothold in the game, so at half-time Karanka brought off right-back Dean Whitehead for forward Emilio Nsue.

Norwich had kept Championship player of the year Patrick Bamford quiet for the first hour, but his turn and shot was the first real test for keeper John Ruddy.

Boro's main threat came from Albert Adomah down the right, but Norwich's central defensive partnership of Sebastien Bassong and captain Russell Martin dealt with every ball into the middle.

It was in fact Norwich who went closest to getting a third when Redmond fired just wide from a free-kick on the edge of the box.

Bamford then had the chance to pull the ball back to Kike but Scotland international Martin cleared his centre, and Norwich held on to return to the top flight.