The Guardian from London, Greater London, England • 25

Football 5 The Guardian Monday May 28 2001 i semidls Ihiappsf WaflsaflQ iMo woimdeoiasrudi the area, Jim Mclntyre's flick-on found Jamie Cureton in front of goal and his shot squirmed under James Martin Thorpe at the Millennium stadium Reading 2 Cureton 31, Butler 91 Walsall 3 Goodman 48, Rougier 10Sog. Byfield 109 (aet; score at 90mins 1-1) A combination of the bizarre and the beautiful propelled Walsall into the First Division yesterday and proved that size does not necessarily matter. Despite spending 185,000 on their team compared with Reading's 3.1m, despite finishing five points below Reading in the table, despite having half as many fans in the crowd, Walsall proved big enough to win a return to the division they were relegated from last year after just one season's stay. They will be hoping for a longer tenure this time and if the grit they showed in twee coming from behind to win this game is anything to go by they stand a chance. "It was not a classic game but it was a fantastic day," said their manager Ray Graydon.

"It was a great recovery. Am I looking forward to First Division football? No I'm looking forward to my holidays." The perfect day was ensured by two Walsall goals of contrasting stature scored inside a minute at the start of the second period of extra-time. Poor old Reading must wait another season to secure a level of football to match their smart stadium and lofty ambitions. Their players and fans were distraught. Reading lost the 1995 First Division play-off final and were on course for automatic promotion for much of this season.

Now they must pick themselves up again. "We'll get our chins up," said their manager Alan Pardew. "We have to come through it stronger." The first of the clinching goals was pure farce as a clearance from one Reading substitute, Barry Hunter, hit another, Anthony Rougier, on the head and rebounded into the net. The second, less than a minute later, was pure fairytale as Darren Byfield, one of the Walsall substitutes, turned cleverly about 25 yards from goal and uncorked a low drive inside the right-hand post. By such twists of fate are play-offs won.

And lost. Reading had begun the brighter on a slippery pitch which did nothing to disprove the Preston manager David Moyes' concerns before today's First Division affair. But slowly Walsall took a grip and it was against the run of play that Reading took the lead. James Harper launched a throw into Walker. Cureton's 31st goal of the season did wonders for Reading's confidence and they almost extended their lead three minutes later as Mclntyre headed Sammy Igoe's cross against the bar.

But Walsall, passing patiently, dragged themselves back into the match with Zigor Aranalde, Paul Hall and the veteran Don Goodman going close. And within two minutes of the restart they had equalised. Pedro Matias's cross from the left found no fewer than two Walsall players free on the far post. Andy Tillson headed the ball back across goal where the impressive Goodman, with a sideways kick and a Jimi Hendrix hairstyle, propelled the ball past Phil Whitehead. But Walsall could not build on their opening.

Jorge Leitao and Tillson went close and though Reading tried to improve their width and invention by bringing on Nicky Forster and Rougier, the nearest they came to scoring in normal time was Igoe's shot wide. But if Walsall had taken the second half by storm, Reading beat them for impact in extra-time. With only 46 seconds of the first period played they retook the lead. Harper's long throw from the left was half-cleared to Phil Parkinson, who launched the ball into the area where Martin Butler's glancing header beat Walker. Walsall tried to revitalise their game with a triple substitution, almost equalising again when Tony Barras's goal-bound header hit Harper and deflected over.

But fate and Byfield intervened and Walsall now join Millwall and Rotherham as the promoted teams from the Second Division. It means there will be six midlands derbies in the First Division next season. And here is another quirky fact: Walsall became the latest team this season to win finals here with their fans sited at the Canton End of the ground. Port Vale did so in the LDV Trophy, as did Liverpool in the Worthington and FA Cups and both winners of the play-offs so far. Bolton fans are seated there today.

Man of the match Don Goodman (Walsall). Waliall (4-4-2): Walker; Btighlwell, Barras, Tillson, Aranalde; Hall (Gadsby, 98min), Bennett (Bukran, 98), Keates, Matias; Leitao (Byfield, 98), Goodman. Reading (4-4-2): Whitehead; Murty, Williams (Hunter, 1051, Vrveash, Robinson; Igoe (Forster, 65), Harper, Parkinson, Mclntyre (Rougier, 8 1 Cureton, Butler. Reforoe: Wolstcnholme. behind to beat Reading and return to the First Division after a year's absence Photograph: Stu ForsterAllsport is perfect end to roller-coaster season As well as that defeat by Bar-net, Blackpool lost at home to Yeovil in the FA Cup and were struggling in 23rd place early in the season.

This, though, was their sixth straight victory. McMahon said he took more pleasure from these events than from his success as a Liverpool player, and admitted he had improved as a manager since his time at Swindon. "The first year at Swindon I was like a bull in a china shop because I was player-manager," he said. "My expectations were high. I probably thought the players could do what I could do, and they couldn't.

I learned quickly." Blackpool's success owed much to the skill of Paul Simpson, the one-time Manchester City midfielder who set up the first, scored the third and had a role in the clinching late goal by Brett Ormerod. Ormerod's career features rejection by Blackburn, work making bed covers during two seasons with Accrington Stanley, a fractured shoulder blade and a broken leg. Now things are looking up. For I.eyton Orient, a second play-off final defeat in three seasons was painful. Chris Tate put them ahead inside a minute when Blackpool's goalkeeper Phil Barnes slipped trying to clear a back-pass, and Scott Houghton's low shot restored their lead after Ian Hughes had headed in.

But Brian Reid equalised and a Houghton error set up No3 for an increasingly dominant and neat-passing Blackpool after Orient's impressive 18-year-old striker Jabo Ibehre had struck a post. "We need three or four players at least," McMahon said. With millions earmarked for redeveloping Bloomfield Road, will he get them? "If they cost nothing and they're on 2.50 a week I will," he said. Nothing seems impossible at Blackpool. Man of the match Paul Simpson (Blackpool).

Blackpool (4-4-2): Barnes; Parkinson, Hughes, Reid, Hills; Coid, Wellens Milligan, 90minl, Clarkson, Simpson IJ Miltgan, 90); Ormerod (Thompson, 90), Murphy. Loyton Orient (4-4-21: Bayes; Joseph, Downer, Smith, Lockwood; Walschaerts (Castle, 66), Harris, McGhee, Houghton (Martin, 83); Ibehre, Referee: Pugh..