Mick McCarthy's men clinched promotion with a 1-0 win at home to Queens Park Rangers to secure their place in the top flight, writes Graham Hiley.

It was a just reward for a campaign which has seen them dominate the Championship.

After a 2-2 draw at Plymouth Argyle on the opening day, they won their next seven fixtures to get off to a flying start with striker Sylvan Ebanks-Blake hitting 10 goals in his first 14 appearances of the season.

Defeat at home to promotion rivals Reading and a slip-up at Swansea City proved to be brief hiccups as the Molineux men bounced back to win eight of their next nine.

They won three and drew one of their next four before enduring something of a wobble after Christmas.

The festive fixtures produced two draws followed by two defeats in their next three.

Wolves hoped to have turned the corner with a 3-1 home win against Watford at the end of January but then lost three and drew two of their next five through February.

However they had enough of a cushion to keep them out in front and a 1-0 win at Crystal Palace at the beginning of March sparked a revival.

McCarthy's men won four and drew one in March and then recovered from a 2-0 defeat at Birmingham City to beat Southampton and Derby County before clinching promotion against QPR thanks to a goal from Ebanks-Blake.

It will be Wanderers' second spell in the Premier League, their first lasted just one season.

Dave Jones had led them to a 3-0 play-off final victory against Sheffield United to end a spell of 19 years in the lower divisions.

Their first campaign in the Barclaycard Premiership was always going to be tough but their survival task was made harder by injuries to goalkeeper Matt Murray and defender Joleon Lescott, both of whom missed the entire season.

Wolves failed to win any of their first seven matches. They lost their first three, shipping nine goals in the opening two fixtures.

After taking just one point from a possible 18, they drew 1-1 at Bolton Wanderers and then secured their first Barclaycard Premiership victory beating Manchester City 1-0 at Molineux.

That was followed up by a 0-0 at Fulham and a 4-3 victory at home to Leicester City but Wolves were unable to build on that.

They lost five and drew two of their next seven before beating relegation rivals Leeds United 3-1 at Molineux on 28th December.

Although they closed the gap on the Yorkshire side to three points, Wolves went into 2004 in bottom place.

They did secure a memorable 1-0 victory at home to Manchester United but that was their only maximum return from seven matches.

That run brought four defeats including a 4-1 reverse at Leeds.

A win at home to Fulham and a draw at Leicester were followed by just one point from the next six, including a 4-1 home defeat by Southampton for whom Claus Lundekvam scored his only ever league goal against his former manager.

Dave Jones' men did win two and draw two of their last five but they had left themselves too much to do and were relegated with Leicester and Leeds, all on 33 points and six points adrift of Everton who finished fourth from bottom.

It has been a long haul back to the top for this proud club who were league champions three times in the Fifties.

Following their relegation from the Barclaycard Premiership, they slumped as low as 19th before Jones was sacked in November 2004.

For the second time in his career he was replaced by Glenn Hoddle. Under his charge, Wolves lost only one of their last 25 matches but drew 15 of them to finish ninth.

A year later Wolves finished seventh, just missing out on a play-off place. Hoddle resigned ahead of the 2006-07 season and was replaced by McCarthy who began a complete overhaul of the club.

The former Sunderland and Republic of Ireland manager trimmed the squad, releasing 12 players and concentrating on giving youth a chance.

Expectations were limited but McCarthy led them to the play-offs where they lost out in the semi-finals to local rivals West Bromwich Albion.

Chairman Sir Jack Hayward sold his controlling interest for the nominal sum of £10 in return for a £30m investment to businessman Steve Morgan and his Carden Leisure group.

The 2007/08 season saw Wolves miss out on a play-off place to Watford by just two goals but they have more than made up for that disappointment a year later.

They have stormed into the Barclays Premier League after leading the Championship for virtually the entire season. And this time they will hope to stay for longer...