West Bromwich Albion may have made most of the running in the Coca-Cola Championship play-offs final yesterday but it was Derby County who seized the big prize. A place in the Barclays Premiership awaits them - and the windfall of about £60 million that goes with it - after their smash-and-grab raid at the new Wembley Stadium.

Derby had finished in third place in the Championship - one position and eight points clear of West Bromwich - but, in the battle of the Midlands neighbours, it was the side from The Hawthorns that functioned the more coherently at the rebuilt and newly opened “Venue of Legends”.

However, West Bromwich paid dearly for a series of missed half-chances and were punished in the 61st minute when good approach work from Steve Howard and Giles Barnes allowed Stephen Pearson to prod the ball home from close range. It was the Scot’s first goal for Derby since his £750,000 move from Celtic in January.

Billy Davies, the Derby manager, danced a jig of delight on the touchline and went even wilder at the end. West Bromwich’s only consolation was a cheque for about £3 million. During the week, the respective chairman - Jeremy Peace, of West Bromwich, and Peter Gadsby, of Derby - had agreed that the losers would take the gate receipts.

The final also marked the last domestic match for Graham Poll, England’s top referee for a decade. Poll, who takes charge of the European Championship qualifying match between Finland and Belgium in Helsinki on June 6, kept a tight rein on proceedings and avoided controversy on his English farewell. Although he booked eight players, it was a quiet finale for a man more used to the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.