Ipswich Town secure immediate return to Premier League with QPR thrashing

Andrew Milbank writes: Very well deserved Ipswich, and really hoping we stay up in the premier league for a least one season. More unlikely things have happened! 🤞 Really proud of our efforts this season 😀

Meanwhile Joanna Last can expect a happy household this weekend. She writes: Quiet day at home, all the family are at Portman Road. Hoping the Tractor Boys’ efforts mean that they will come home happy and probably rather hoarse.

Speaking to Sky, Dara O’Shea, the Ipswich captain, said: “It means everything. This is what we set out to do at the start of the season. I don’t think anyone wanted us to do it. We had to walk the walk and we did. We got the job done, that’s the main thing.

Of the celebrations, he added: “It’s [going to be] a free-for-all tonight!”

“It means a lot, I have to say. It’s probably been the hardest one if I’m honest. It means an awful lot, I’m so grateful to my family and to the staff the way they supported me. It’s brilliant.

“There are so many reasons... I know how hard we’ve had to work as a staff to turn it around. The club had such a climb and a steep fall and such a big turnover of important players, club legends have left the club. We’ve had to try and rebuild team under difficult circumstances. Everyone stuck and it and I think we deserve to be where we are today.

Kieran McKenna makes it three promotions in four seasons, and they were absolutely fantastic today. They did what they had to do in the opening minutes, shutting down any possibility of an upset, before controlling the match expertly from then on. From the heartbreak of relegation this time last year, to promotion to the top table of English football. What a moment for the club!

McKenna has now secured more promotions than the legendary Sir Alf Ramsey.

The jubilant fans are the pitch and McKenna soaks in the adulation.

Ipswich 3 QPR 0 (McAteer) They can get the party started now! Azon and Mehmeti hound the QPR defence and the ball breaks for Taylor who breaks through the last line of defence. And while Walsh is able to stymie his advances the ball falls to McAteer who fires home. That is most certainly that.

Things look to be petering out to their natural conclusion at Portman Road. There are 10 minutes left to play and Ipswich look to be enjoying these final moments. The fans are in good voice as they sense what is coming. Ed Sheeran sighted somewhere in the crowd. “We are going up” chants ring out around the ground.

Hull City 2-1 Norwich (McBurnie) Another twist! That fourth play-off position has a third tenant of the day as McBurnie taps in a knockdown off a set-piece to put Hull in front for the first time this afternoon. He wheels away in delight. As he should. A massive goal.

Derby 1 Sheffield United 1 (Cannon) A potentially huge goal in the context of the race for the play-offs. Cannon arrows in an equaliser after an error by Ward to the dismay of the home fans at Pride Park. Their side must do it all over again to get back into the top six.

Regardless of what happens to Millwall this season, you simply cannot see Azeez being a Championship player for too much longer. The winger has stepped up in important moments all season and here, once again, he is the player asking all the questions of the opposition. An attempted rabona cross is followed by a dangerous sprint in behind.

Millwall 2 Oxford (Azeez) Bannan rolls back the years with a wonderful piece of invention to wriggle away from his marker before feeding Ballo who gets his cross away just before he runs out of road. And at the back post awaits Azeez, who finishes on the half-volley. A really nicely worked goal.

It has been difficult to avert your eyes from the action unfolding in north Wales. Parkinson’s men looked to have turned things around but not sooner had Smith scored their second than they gave up that advantage. Both Wrexham and Hull dropping points has allowed Derby to sneak in to the top six. Opta gave the Rams a 20.5 per cent chance of making the play-offs before kick-off today.

That was exactly the start McKenna would have dreamed off last night. Quick-fire goals from Hirst and Philogene opened up a sizeable lead before QPR had got their bearings. Town are on the brink of a third promotion in four years. This is the Championship, though, where anything can happen in 45 minutes.

Neil’s side are doing all they can, leading Oxford through Azeez’s crafty strike. They will be praying for favours from their fellow Londoners QPR who will need to pull off a Houdini-esque feat of escapology to takes points off Ipswich.

Wrexham 2 Middlesbrough 2 (Smith) Wow, what a roller-coaster this match is turning into. Middlesbrough go up the other end and score through Strelec. Wrexham were in the top six for all of two minutes!

Millwall 1 Oxford 0 (Azeez) Millwall hit the front! With Oxford’s defence not set, the Lions break, Ivanovic charging through the middle before feeding Azeez on the right. The winger was included in the Championship team of the season and here he shows his quality once more, facing up his marker before darting on to his supposedly weaker right foot and spearing the ball beyond Cumming.

Hull City 1 Norwich 1 (McBurnie pen.) It takes Hull just two minutes to draw level after Norwich had taken the lead. After Gelhardt had been felled up steps McBurnie and he slides the ball down the middle having sent Kovacevic diving.

Preston 0 Southampton 1 (Harwood-Bellis) Saints are in rude health and it is their titan at the back Harwood-Bellis who puts them in front at Deepdale, planting a header into the top right corner off a set-piece.

Eustace’s side are doing what they need to do. Szmodics steals in at the near post to flick Banel’s cross into the net.

As things stand, Derby are in the final play-off spot.

Ipswich 2 QPR 0 (Philogene) Wow, what a start the hosts have made. And it is that man again, Philogene, who steadies himself before stroking the ball past Walsh from point-blank range. He was never going to miss that.

Ipswich are well up for this one, swarming down the right this time before finding Philogene on the penalty spot. He brings the ball down tidily but his effort is parried by Walsh.

One side of the stadium is missing, there will only be 10,000 or so in attendance but this is the kind of day that makes football so special. It feels like a proper occasion here at Wrexham, who have their destiny in their own hands when that really didn’t seem possible after they had lost to Birmingham last month. Everything tells you the next 90 minutes are going to be dramatic and given the amount of Wrexham lager that was being consumed outside Stok Cae Ras around 11am, you can be sure the atmosphere will be lively. It’s thirsty work when your team is trying to make history.

Are you in an away end with your inflatables? Or perhaps multi-screening at home? If your team is out of the running for promotion, who are you rooting for?

Let us know in the comments section underneath this blog.

“It’s going to be a wonderful atmosphere in our stadium – it’s the third time in four years that we’re had a home game to try and get promoted. It’s not lost on us that these are special times. We want to deliver a big performance and a big result.”

McKenna added: “I watched their game against Derby last week, they had nearly 70 per cent possession against a team in the play-offs – they’ve got a very good manager, a very professional manager, I’m sure they’ll have trained and prepared this week.”

While Sheffield Wednesday’s relegation was sealed some time ago, fans at Hillsborough are in great spirits as they prepare for new beginnings next season. Wonderful to see after all they have been through.

Speaking to Sky, Alex Neil, the Millwall head coach, said: “It’s not in our hands. Ipswich will do what they do, obviously they’re certainly favourites. So as far as that’s concerned we’ve not spent any time thinking about what will happen elsewhere. We just need to do our job and try and win the game and then what will happen will happen. From that we’ll decide what we do next.

“As a fan, [games like today are] the whole point of being a fan. You’ve got the licence to dream and hope that we could be the team to maybe nick it in the end.”

Good morning and welcome to live coverage of what is set to be a mouthwatering 2025-26 Championship finale. Though Frank Lampard’s Coventry City have already been crowned champions, there are three teams in the hunt for the second automatic promotion spot currently occupied by Ipswich Town. Kieran McKenna’s side have 81 points and victory over QPR would secure promotion back to the Premier League at the first time of asking. A draw or loss, though, would open the door to Millwall (third, 80 points) or Middlesbrough (fourth, 79 points) who face Oxford United and Wrexham respectively.

Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney’s team themselves have much to play for as they occupy the final play-off position (sixth, 70 points). Wrexham could suffer final-day heartbreak, though, should they drop points against Middlesbrough, and Hull City, seventh by only two goals, better their result against Norwich City. Derby County, eighth by a point, would need to beat Sheffield United and hope Wrexham and Hull slip up. Southampton are fifth on 77 points, and while they are out of the running for automatic promotion, their place in the play-offs is confirmed. They could leapfrog Middlesbrough to claim the fourth seeding and a home second leg play-off semi-final draw.

All three relegation spots have been settled, with West Brom’s draw against Ipswich Town last weekend confirming Oxford United’s relegation back to League One after just a season in the Championship. Leicester City will all drop down to the third tier of English football for the first time in 18 years – and only a decade after lifting the Premier League trophy – as will Sheffield Wednesday, who were deducted 18 points in a season that saw the club enter administration. Fans will welcome in a near era at Hillsborough this afternoon as Wednesday moves on from the failed ownership of Dejphon Chansiri.

All matches kick off at 12.30pm.

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