Only five weeks ago Colin Calderwood, the Nottingham Forest manager, stood conducting a post mortem after a defeat at Doncaster Rovers’ Keepmoat Stadium with 3,000 supporters baying for his blood.

Now Calderwood has etched his name into Forest’s illustrious history as the man who has finally mounted a recovery for the club built by Brian Clough after three years of false dawns and frustration in the relative wilderness of Coca-Cola League One.

Calderwood must be one of the few managers outside the Barclays Premier League to have his abilities constantly questioned by supporters, despite Forest being in the top six for most of the campaign. He now deserves his moment of triumph after this victory over Yeovil Town, their vanquishers in last season’s play-offs semi-final, that secured automatic promotion to the Championship. “Do I feel vindicated? Obviously, but I’ve been absolutely resolute with the players I’ve got,” he said. “They were adamant they were good enough to go up and it was almost irrelevant to them that they weren’t in the top two for most of the season.

“I could understand the criticism, because at Doncaster the performance dictated that we should get heckled. But the expectancy lifts you and drives you on. To be the manager of a successful team here again next season in this city would probably take it to another level.”

Forest have followed that setback away to Doncaster with a seven-match unbeaten run, while Rovers must face the lottery of the play-offs after a demoralising defeat away to Cheltenham Town. So often Forest have buckled when under pressure but their football, particularly in the first half, was effervescent and Julian Bennett, Kris Commons and Lewis McGugan, all Nottingham-born, put them in control with well-taken goals.

Not even replies from Jaime Peters and Andrew Kirk could spoil Forest’s party and Nigel Doughty, the venture capitalist who has pumped more than £40 million into the club as chairman, is ready to bankroll another promotion campaign. Robert Earnshaw, the Derby County forward, is a £2 million target.

“It is embarrassing for a club of this stature to be in League One,” Doughty said. “I will still be a bit embarrassed until we are back in the Premier League because this is a Premier League club.”

Nottingham Forest (4-4-2): P Smith – L Chambers (sub: I Breckin, 72min), W Morgan, K Wilson, J Bennett – J Perch (sub: J Agogo, 65), L McGugan, C Cohen, K Commons – B Ormerod (sub: A Davies, 86), N Tyson. Substitutes not used: G McCleary, M Thornhill. Booked: McGugan.

Yeovil Town (4-5-1): S Mildenhall – L Peltier, T Skiverton, T Forbes, N Smith – J Peters, A Barry (sub: M Rose, 78), M Bircham, M Williams (sub: A Kirk, 67), A Downes (sub: N Jones, 84) – M Stewart. Substitutes not used: W Guyett, L Owusu. Booked: Williams.

Referee: F Graham
Attendance: 28,520