Wolves are back in the big time after clinching automatic promotion to the Premier League at a jubilant Molineux.

Sylvan Ebanks-Blake’s 46th-minute winner sealed the vital victory against a spirited QPR, as the managerless Londoners made Mick McCarthy’s side work for the win.

The Hoops struck the crossbar twice after Ebanks-Blake’s 25th goal of the season and there were some nervy moments before promotion was sealed, making results elsewhere in the Championship irrelevant.

Cameron Jerome’s late goal for Blues at Watford means Wolves’ title champagne remains on ice, but that can wait.

Promotion sees Wolves seal a second spell in the top flight of English football with fans looking forward to mouth-watering clashes against the cream of the game, including European champions Manchester United, plus fellow big guns Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea.

It is the culmination of the club’s ‘young and hungry’ policy that was introduced by the board prior to manager McCarthy’s appointment just under three years ago and sees Wolves return to the top flight after an absence of five years.

McCarthy’s young side became the first Wolves team for 20 years to win automatic promotion, since Steve Bull and Co led the club to the old Third Division title in 1989.

It was a real carnival atmosphere and an occasion for Wolves through the ages.

Heroes from the 1950s Roy Swinbourne and Malcolm Finlayson and 1970s star Frank Munro were among the sell-out crowd to celebrate promotion back to the big time.

Fans also joined in, singing the new terrace anthem, The Impossible Dream and waving thousands of gold and black cards in the air to create a real party atmosphere before kick-off.

The result means Wolves can now play out the final two games safe in the knowledge that whatever happens, they will be rubbing shoulders with the elite of English football once more next season.