Telegraph

Sylvain Ebanks-Blake seals Premier League promotion for Wolves

Champagne has never tasted so sweet. The inevitable hangovers will never have felt so insignificant.

And no longer will the club's fans say their side does not have the stomach to close out a season at the top.

For only the second time in 25 years, Wolverhampton Wanderers are in the Premier League.

How apt that it should be Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, the man with the golden boots, figuratively at least, that should send them there.

All season, the 23-year-old striker has been magnificent.

In truth, his coordinates were off on Saturday, disrupted by a three-game absence with a hamstring niggle, but when it mattered most, when Andy Keogh found him in the box and when the excellent Radek Cerny was at last out of position, Ebanks-Blake rose to the challenge.

His 25th goal of the season was not the most beautiful finish, but it is probably the most beautiful his manager has seen.

"I'm not sure I can articulate how I am feeling," Mick McCarthy said. "I'm very proud." Awash on Friday, Wolverhampton basked in the sun here.

Picking up on the auspicious portents, chanting to each other from their cars as traffic snaked its way through town, horns hooting, the Wolves fans were in carnival mood. Molineux shook to the core.

In their last two games, Wolves had scored in the first 10 minutes; similar stuff was expected and when Stephen Ward dinked a ball into the box, and Dave Edwards met it with a diving header, the crowd were already celebrating.

But Cerny proved a party-pooper, palming out for a corner.

Wolves would not take no for an answer. Jody Craddock sliced a volley high and wide, then Keogh forced Cerny - now wearing the resigned look of a keeper who knows it is only a matter of time - into an impressive save.

Still no breakthrough.

McCarthy took his team into the break with the half-time announcer's warning to fans that a pitch invasion in celebration of promotion at the end of the match would not be appreciated ringing in his ears.

Considering he had spent the last few days pouring cold water on any hype, such a premature pronouncement must have had McCarthy fuming.

The boisterous boos which greeted the directive suggested the fans were similarly unimpressed, albeit for different reasons.

But if the home side had felt under any additional pressure as they sat through their team-talk, it did not show on the resumption.

With less than a minute gone, Damion Stewart was caught dallying in defence. Keogh nipped in and stole the ball. Ebanks-Blake did the rest. Cue bedlam.

Fans were restrained enough to stay near their seats - just.

But as McCarthy had warned, "nothing is ever easy". He has admitted to a few heart flutters in his time, and they can't have been far off as Rowan Vine's shot took a deflection and thundered into the crossbar. Yet try as QPR might, there was no room for a riposte.

This was Wolves' day. Here was that announcer again, imploring spectators to stay in the stands.

Fat chance. The fans needed to touch the turf, prove it was real. McCarthy only made it 10 yards before he disappeared in the golden tide.


Observer

Ebanks-Blake returns Wolves to the top flight

Sylvan Ebanks-Blake celebrates after scoring the goal that promoted Wolves to the Premier League. Photograph: Peter Ford/Action Images

Nothing was going to stop Wolverhampton Wanderers in the end. Queens Park Rangers tried and failed and so did the stewards, rendered helpless in their attempts to prevent a pitch invasion at the final whistle.

Blissfully ignoring the stadium announcer's requests, a sea of gold shirts flooded the playing surface to join Mick McCarthy and his players in raucously celebrating Wolves' return to the Premier League for the first time in five years.

In many ways it was written in the stars. Fifty years ago to the day, Stan ­Cullis had led the great Wolves side of the 1950s to their third First Division title.

Wolves needed more than omens on their side, however, and it was not until the 46th minute, just after half-time, when Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, back in the side after injury, converted his 25th goal of the season, that the home supporters began to breath more easily.

There were still nervous moments for all present to endure, but pandemonium broke out at the end.

No one was happier than Steve ­Morgan. The Wolves chairman took over from Sir Jack Hayward after handing over a £10 note and promising a £30m investment in exchange.

Eighteen months later and he has a Premier League club on his hands. "I have never spent a better tenner than that one," said Morgan, a lifelong Liverpool fan who had previously been frustrated in his attempts to take control at Anfield.

"It will cost Jack more than a tenner to buy it back now!"

"I am almost speechless," he added. "It was just fabulous. It's the culmination of a really hard season, lots of ups and downs, high points and low points, but what a fabulous end to it. I am so proud for Wolves and the city.

"I can't explain how exciting it is to be in the Premier League. I was born and bred a Liverpool fan, but that's a divorce well and truly out of the way.

I never thought I would beat the sensation of Istanbul [in 2005] but being involved in this really means so much more."

The season had been a slog at times, particularly between the end of December and the start of March, when Wolves managed only one win in 11 matches and were in danger of imploding.

Questions were being asked of McCarthy and his callow side at that point, but a strong ­finish to the season, which culminated in seven victories in the past nine matches, has pushed Wolves over the line with two games to spare.

Another point and the Championship title will also be in the bag.

McCarthy knows, however, there are greater challenges ahead. Wolves were relegated after just one season following their promotion in 2003, and the Yorkshireman, who revealed that he prepared for the QPR match by varnishing his garage at 6am, admitted that he also had "unfinished business" after his chastening experience with Sunderland in 2005/06.

With no money to spend, McCarthy endured the ignominy of ­relegation with 15 points.

"If I am given £6m to spend like I was last time, which included transfer fees, wages, signing-on fees and agents' fees, we'll all be in trouble," said the Wolves ­manager in typically forthright fashion.

"I had a bit of naivety and arrogance then, and I also had the usual take it on the chin [attitude] that if 'that's what I've got, I'll do it'.

"We didn't get a lot of points and I never really had a chance. I just want to be given a sporting chance."

Whether that happens remains to be seen, but this was not the day to spend too much time speculating on the future.

The precious breakthrough arrived when Andy Keogh capitalised on a mistake by Damion Stewart and crossed for Ebanks-Blake to tap home.

Rowan Vine later hit the bar for QPR and ­Heidar Helguson squandered a one-on-one, but there was a sense that this was going to be Wolves' day. "I'm knackered, but beaming inside," McCarthy added.

Sunday People

Sylvan strike sends McCarthy's heroes back into Premier League

Mick McCARTHY provided the varnish and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake the finish as jubilant Wolves jumped back into the big-time.

The Wolves boss could not sleep yesterday morning and got the paintbrush out.

And Ebanks-Blake, the Championship's leading scorer, provided the gloss with his winner two minutes after the interval that ended the club's five-year absence from the top-flight.

It was a nervy old day at Molineux in a game that was ultimately decided by Damion Stewart's howler, gifting Ebanks-Blake his 25th goal of the season to get the famous old stadium rocking.

McCarthy said: "My feelings? A bit of everything. I'm not sure I can articulate how I'm feeling. I'm beaming on the inside. I'm absolutely thrilled by our achievement. Proud of the players.

We have been top since October.

"So, it's a lovely day. Promotion hasn't registered. I've just sat in the bath - and it's not sunk in.

"All that on the pitch, that's fabulous. but the reality is that we want to share it with our wives and kids. It's rah-rahrah at the moment. It's not something you can really savour. You just enjoy the high.

"But savouring it? That will be whenever I wake up tomorrow morning.

"If that's anything like the last few days, I'll be varnishing the garage again. That's where I was at 6am anyway. I sanded it down earlier in the week and I got up this morning to finish it off."

Thumped

The first half had been mostly Wolves but apart from one super stop by Radek Cerny from Dave Edwards' header and a Matt Jarvis corner that thumped off the crossbar, the hosts failed to offer too much of a threat.

The increasingly-agitated home punters did not have to wait long for the all-important goal. It arrived within two minutes of the restart.

A ball down the inside-left channel should have been gobbled up by Stewart.

But Keogh has not forged a reputation for himself as one of the hardest-working forwards in football for nothing.

He has not always been a Molineux favourite, but the Ireland international is not afraid to put in a shift.

And he harried Stewart into stumbling over his feet, losing control of the ball.

Keogh was there to take advantage. It was a simple pass to Ebanks-Blake who had the majority of the goal to aim at as Cerny was stranded at his near-post.

And the forward with 24 goals to his credit was not about to pass up the opportunity to claim his 25th.

He side-footed into the net with the minimum of fuss to send the sell-out crowd into a frenzy. As is often the case though, after a team concedes they are at their most vulnerable - and that was the case here.

Three minutes after the goal, Heidar Helguson's deflected shot from 25 yards crashed against the bar with keeper Wayne Hennessey well beaten.

After failing to pose much of a threat, the visitors should have drawn level 10 minutes later when Gavin Mahon sent Helguson clear through the middle.

He had the option of rounding Hennessey but decided to take the shot first-time and the keeper saved.

Ebanks-Blake was pulled out of the firing line after an hour and his replacement Marlon Harewood should have made it 2-0 but mis-hit his shot when it looked easier to score. Rangers'caretaker-boss Gareth Ainsworth said: "We made a mistake at the back that let them in. We had the chance to spoil it but didn't take it.

"What Wolves have been involved in today whets my appetite and should do for everyone involved with our club."

Delirium

The final blast of referee John Moss's whistle sparked the scenes of delirium.

McCarthy will be hoping that owner Steve Morgan puts his hand into his pocket. The last time the big Yorkshireman pulled off promotion to the Premier League, the cash dried up at Sunderland. But he claims that won't be the case this time.

"If I'm given £6million to spend like I was last time for transfer fees, signingon on fees, wages and agents' fees, then we are all stuffed," he said.

"But that won't be the case. Given a sporting chance, you will always have a chance."

The last time Wolves made it to the Premier League, they did so via the play-offs. And those leaving the ground were not about to waste an old gold opportunity to enjoy their day in the sun.