They now have another crack at the big time after agonisingly going down on the final Barclays Premier League match last season.

A tense 2-1 victory at promotion rivals Reading on the final day of this campaign ensured the champagne bottles were cracked open for a return to the top flight after a one-year absence.

It was just reward for Alex McLeish's men who had been amongst the Championship's pace-setters all season.

The pain of relegation last May did not dampen their spirits as Blues got off to a flying start in the Championship when they started their journey in August by claiming three wins and a draw in the first month.

Striker Kevin Phillips, a summer signing from West Bromwich Albion, netted a last-minute strike on his debut to give Blues victory over Sheffield United on the opening day and his goals would prove crucial in their promotion bid.

five defeats

Ten points gleaned from five matches in September kept them in the hunt and just five defeats between this point and the end of the year - one of which was a disappointing 3-1 reverse at rivals Reading - ensured Blues were serious contenders for promotion.

Two of those losses came in December but McLeish's troops ended the year sitting pretty in third place, just behind with Wolverhampton Wanderers and Reading.

All three clubs would end up spending the rest of the campaign battling it out for automatic promotion.

Wolves sent Birmingham crashing out of the FA Cup third round in January and this seemed to affect the St Andrews spirit as their form in early 2009 threatened their promotion dream.

The only triumphs in the next nine Championship outings were against struggling Derby County and Nottingham Forest and questions were asked if Blues had enough to get back on track.

Despite their patchy form, Birmingham went into March still in second and managed to hold a tight grip on that position until the end of the season.

driving seat

Blues could not afford any more slip-ups with Reading and a clutch of other clubs breathing down their necks and with Wolves looking good for the title.

Before last Saturday's fixture with Preston North End, Birmingham had gone nine matches undefeated to put them in the driving seat to go up.

Wolves wrapped up the title but a 1-0 win over Watford pushed the Blues four points ahead of third-placed Sheffield United with two fixtures left.

Birmingham could have ensured a glorious return to England's elite division by beating Preston but lost 1-2 despite taking the lead.

That meant a nervous final-day decider at promotion rivals Reading who would have gone up in place of the Midlands club if they had won at the Madejski Stadium.

Sheffield United were also in with a shout but they were held 0-0 by their former manager Neil Warnock at Crystal Palace. That meant victory would put Reading back into the Premier League but despite a granstand finale, they were unable to break down Alex McLeish's brave battlers.

Keith Fahey gave the visitors the lead on 19 minutes and Kevin Phillips appeared to have settled the nerves with a second on the hour only for Marek Matejovsky to reply within a minute.

Birmingham had to endure six minutes of added time before they could celebrate with the travelling fans for whom promotion has gone some way to healing the pain of relegation in 2008.

After clinching promotion to the top flight for the third time in seven seasons, Blues will be out to banish once and for all the much-maligned "yo-yo club" tag.