Derby County 2-0 Carlisle United - Rams seal promotion to the Championship
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Max Bird has remained on loan at Derby after he was sold to Bristol City in January
Derby County sealed promotion to the Championship with a poised and polished final-day victory against already-relegated Carlisle United at a jubilant Pride Park.
Derby needed only a draw against the division's bottom side to end their two-year stay in League One, and Max Bird's fierce swerving shot from outside the box had Rams fans singing and bouncing to the joyous tune of 'we are going up' after just five minutes.
James Collins got Paul Warne's Rams over the promotion line with a composed close-range finish on the hour mark to complete the victory.
It is the fourth time 50-year-old Warne has guided a side to promotion from League One, his three previous successes coming with Rotherham as they yo-yoed between the second and third tiers.
This promotion, however, is only Derby's second in 27 years and restores them to the Championship, from which they tumbled from while in administration in 2022.
Eiran Cashin and Louie Sibley were the only two Derby players to start the promotion-sealing win who were also on the pitch when their relegation to League One was confirmed two years earlier.
Rams supporters stood up during the game for a minute's appreciative applause for owner David Clowes, whose takeover ensured the club avoided ruin.
James Collins (left) was among one of the first players Derby signed after Clowes bought the club out of administration
The pitch invasion at full-time was an emotional release for a huge section of the sold-out crowd of 31,027, as it ended a League One stint that had defined how far the club fell because of financial failings.
Carlisle boss Paul Simpson was Derby's winger the last time the Rams earned automatic promotion in 1996.
Despite his strong association with Derby - which included a stint as assistant coach when they got to within a win over Premier League promotion in 2014 - the 57-year-old said his little-fancied side only had eyes on "trying to spoil the party".
And with two of Carlisle's seven league wins this season coming away to sides in the top six - including a 3-1 win at the Rams' nearest rivals Bolton in October - earning a promotion-clinching point or better had the potential to be more complicated than simply facing the league's rock-bottom side, whose 16 defeats in 21 games since the turn of the year had them heading back to League Two.
Bird, a Derby academy graduate who has remained part of the promotion push on loan after being sold to Bristol City in January, traded passes with Kane Wilson before beating goalkeeper Harry Lewis at his near post with a stunning effort worthy of the helping settle a high-stakes, high-profile decider.
Carlisle were the better of the two sides for much of the first half after the goal, but it was Ebou Adams for the Rams who had a second ruled out for offside after he acrobatically pounced on a goal-line block that initially denied Louie Sibley.
Collins eventually doubled the Rams' advantage, getting on the end of a knock-down Sonny Bradley header in the box from a deep free-kick that came from goalkeeper Joe Wildsmith in Derby's own half.
The excellent Nathaniel Mendez-Laing - whose creativity and club-record 16 assists for the season have been pivotal for Derby throughout the campaign - almost made it three soon after but Lewis managed to recover after rushing off his line to smother the winger's shot.
Rams return to Championship reborn
There was a minute's applause for Derby owner David Clowes during the promotion-clinching win
Derby teetered on the brink of oblivion when they were relegated from the Championship while in administration in 2022.
In League One, they have rebuilt - but it has never been easy.
When they dropped to the third tier for the first time in 36 years they were seen as favourites to bounce straight back, even when they were still in administration and only had five senior players on their books.
Clowes' takeover in July 2022 rescued the Rams four weeks before the 2022-23 season kicked off, and under interim boss Liam Rosenior they pieced together an experienced side in a hurry.
Within three months, the then rookie boss had been dumped for Warne - a man Clowes once called "the King of League One" - Rosenior moved up to the Championship and has had the Hull City chasing a play-off place this season.
But for the first time managing in the division, ex-Rotherham boss Warne failed to get the side he was in charge of promoted to the Championship.
They even fell short of the play-offs last season, ranking the Rams' rebirth a failure.
A slow start to this season followed and it was not until the final week of November - 17 games into the campaign - that Derby edged their way into the play-off spots for the first time.
In that time, a section of supporters called for Warne's exit and captain Conor Hourihane confronted dissenting fans after a particularly chastening defeat at Shrewsbury.
A surge in form between late October and mid-February, which saw the Rams win 14 of their 19 league games, moved them up to second - breaking into the automatic promotion spots.
And there they have finished, clinging on to seal their Championship return ahead of Bolton, who have been consigned to the play-offs.