NO EPL FOR OMERUOAND BORO

Norwich City sealed an immediate return to the Premier League as a blistering first-half display saw them beat Middlesbrough 2-0 in a pulsating Sky Bet Championship play-off final at Wembley.

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Two goals in three first-half minutes shifted the final in favour of Alex Neil’s side as goals from Cameron Jerome and Nathan Redmond saw the Canaries return to top-flight football at the first time of asking, following their relegation last season.
Both sides rattled each other’s crossbars in a frenetic start to the match, before a well organised Norwich took the game away a Boro side who rarely threatened to drag themselves back into the game.
The results marks a dramatic turnaround for the Canaries who, having turned to Neil to ignite their floundering season in January, beat a side they had failed to beat in the regular season with an accomplished display.
The news before kick-off concerned traffic around the National Stadium as Middlesbrough were held up en-route to the ground. Patrick Bamford returned from injury to lead to Boro attack, while Neil named the same line-up which defeat East Anglian rivals Ipswich Town in the semi-finals.
And the continuity among the Norwich ranks was evident from the off as the Championship’s third-place side grabbed the initiative.
Jerome was the early out-ball and he missed a glorious chance to open the scoring on nine minutes when he failed to convert Whittaker’s cross from the right.
What followed summed up the end-to-end nature of the game as Bradley Johnson’s sent a left-footed volley crashing against the crossbar of Dimitrios Konstantopoulos’ goal seconds before Boro repeated the feat as Jelle Vossen rattled John Ruddy’s goal with an exquisite effort.
The game then swung in Norwich’s favour as Jerome picked Daniel Ayala’s pocket on 12 minutes, bore down on the Middlesbrough goal and slotted the ball past the on-rushing Konstantopoulos to become the first player in Norwich’s history to score at Wembley.
It was two just shortly after as Redmond gathered Whittaker's through ball down with one touch before rifling home with his second from inside the right-hand channel give the Canaries a deserved two-goal lead.
Shell-shocked, Middlesbrough struggled to find a way through Norwich’s solid midfield set-up, with Alexander Tettey and Wes Hoolahan, along with Jerome, penning Boro deep inside their half for large parts.
However, trailing by just two goals, the half-time interval presented Aitor Karanka with the chance to regroup, and they did as Albert Adomah used his pace to get in behind the Norwich rearguard consistently for the first time after the break.
Bamford drew a fine save from Ruddy on 60 minutes, after Lee Tomlin had found the England U21 striker with a disguised pass, and Ruddy was on hand again to smother substitute Kike’s drilled cut-back as Boro failed to create a clear opening on the Norwich goal.
Ayala had a couple of half chances to atone for his part in Jerome’s opener, before his third header from a corner was blocked en-route to goal by Norwich substitute Lewis Grabban.
Middlesbrough could not find a way through in the closing stages and it was left to Norwich captain Russell Martin to lift the Championship play-off trophy aloft as the Canaries became the 18th side to seal promotion to the Premier League the season after they were relegated.