Championship - Blackpool reach Premier League
Blackpool reached the Premier League with a 3-2 victory over Cardiff in an action-packed Championship play-off final at Wembley.All five goals came in the first-half with Charlie Adam cancelling out Michael Chopra's early strike and then Blackpool quickly levelling again as Gary Taylor-Fletcher responded to Joe Ledley's goal.
It was veteran striker Brett Ormerod who scored what turned out to be the decisive goal in first-half injury time as the Tangerines returned to the top-flight of English football for the first time in 39 years.
It took just nine minutes for Cardiff to break the deadlock after a perfectly timed run from Chopra who dispatched Peter Whittingham's pass into the far corner past the diving Matthew Gilks.
But within four minutes Blackpool were level after Stephen McPhail was penalised for a handball and Tangerines top scorer Adam curled a superb 25-yard free-kick into the top corner, leaving David Marshall with no chance.
Cardiff regained their lead on 37 minutes when Ledley laid off to Whittingham and continued his run into the penalty area. Gilks came off his line and made the angle easy for Ledley to fire into the corner.
But again the lead only lasted four minutes. Moments after Taylor-Fletcher hit the post with a strike from 20 yards out, the Bluebirds failed to deal with a corner and although Ian Evatt's hook was cleared off the line by the thigh of Mark Kennedy it popped up to Taylor-Fletcher who headed home from close range.
And the Tangerines took the lead for the first time in first-half injury time as DJ Campbell wriggled into the penalty area and although he slipped when he attempted to shoot the ball fell nicely to veteran Ormerod who found the net.
There was still time for drama as Darcy Blake poked home a free-kick at the back post in first-half injury time but it was correctly ruled offside.
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