Cambridge United 3-0 Grimsby Town: Hoolahan & Mullin score as U's seal promotion
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Cambridge had lost their previous two games but managed to get over the promotion line
Cambridge United secured promotion to League One with a straightforward win over already-relegated Grimsby Town.
Needing a point to seal a top three finish, Liam O'Neil smashed in a close-range volley to ease any early nerves.
Former Norwich playmaker Wes Hoolahan doubled their lead when his free-kick from out wide evaded everyone in the box and bounced into the far corner.
Paul Mullin put the U's 3-0 up with his 32nd league goal of the season - thumping home a free-kick.
Mark Bonner's Cambridge would have won the title had Cheltenham failed to beat Harrogate in their final game, but a 4-1 victory for the Robins means the U's finish second.
Grimsby, who are challenging their relegation from League Two with the English Football League, had most of the possession at a blustery Abbey Stadium but managed just two shots on target and end the season bottom of the table.
The U's had squandered two previous opportunities to wrap up promotion, including a 5-4 defeat at Harrogate last week, but they always seemed in control and got all of their goals from set-pieces to ensure they will play in the third tier for the first time in 19 years.
Bonner's U's upset the odds
Coming off the back of 21st and 16th-placed finishes in the past two campaigns, most were predicting another season in the bottom half for Cambridge.
However, they finished last season reasonably well under caretaker boss Bonner - who was then given the job full-time - while the free-agent summer signings of former Republic of Ireland international Hoolahan and striker Mullin would prove inspired.
Even before their opening League Two game, victory at Championship side Birmingham in the EFL Cup and the arrival of two American businessmen to provide "significant new investment" had supporters cautiously optimistic.
The U's then put three past Carlisle and scored five at Morecambe and Scunthorpe, all without reply, in their opening six league matches as former Tranmere frontman Mullin could not stop scoring.
A run of just two wins in nine saw Cambridge end 2020 out of the top seven but Bonner's side followed that up with a seven-game unbeaten streak and never looked back.
Midfielder Hoolahan, 38, has had his minutes sensibly managed and rolled back the years with seven goals and nine assists.
League Two player of the year Mullin, who has had a stand at the Abbey Stadium temporarily named after him after breaking the club's long-standing record for goals in a league season, has often benefitted from his creativity.
Rookie boss Bonner, 35, has been academy manager, first-team coach and assistant manager at the U's and has now led his boyhood club to League One for the first time since 2002.
Cambridge United boss Mark Bonner told BBC Radio Cambridgeshire:
"We've done great throughout the year, we've had a tough year - I think anyone who's in football this year knows how difficult it's been and we've overcome it with our best season for some time.
"In the end we held our nerve and got across the line. It's been an edgy couple of weeks getting ready for this game.
"We've wanted to seal it - hadn't quite been able to - but I'm proud that we've done it today.
"I haven't achieved it, this group of players and staff have. I would've been out by September if we didn't have Gary Waddock [assistant] with me, helping me."