Derby 1 West Brom 0:  Stephen Pearson scored his first goal for Derby County to earn the Rams a place in the Premiership for the first time in five years and secure a £50 million windfall for the club at the expense of West Bromwich Albion.

The Rams, who finished third in the table, join champions Sunderland and second-placed Birmingham in the Premiership for the first time since 2002.

Pearson, who signed from Celtic for £650,000 in January, scored the only goal against West Brom after 61 minutes from a cross by substitute Giles Barnes who had only been on the pitch three minutes.

It continued a remarkable turn-around in fortunes for the Rams who 12 months ago finished 20th in the Coca-Cola Championship and flirted with relegation for much of the 2005-2006 campaign.

Manager Billy Davies has transformed the club since arriving from Preston last summer in place of Phil Brown. And Davies had more reason than most to celebrate after losing out in a play-off semi-final and final in his last two seasons at Deepdale.

He has put the pride back into a club which won the league title twice in four years in the mid 1970s under Brian Clough and Dave Mackay respectively.

Albion were the better side in the opening 45 minutes but it was a different story in the second half with the Rams inspired by skipper Matt Oakley.

Now the Baggies must try and lift themselves for what is sure to be a rebuilding programme in the summer under Tony Mowbray with question marks hanging over the future of Premiership targets Curtis Davies, Diomansy Kamara and Jason Koumas.

Albion made a purposeful start and Rams keeper Stephen Bywater was called into meaningful action after only 40 seconds to parry away a left-footed drive from Kamara.

But Paul Peschisolido could have made a name for himself on his comeback after 10 minutes when he found himself with only Dean Kiely to beat after good play by Steve Howard only to curl a weak shot straight at the former Portsmouth keeper.

The Rams were indebted to a superbly timed tackle from Tyrone Mears to halt a mazy run into the area by Koumas after he had skipped past three challenges. The Baggies appealed strongly for a penalty but television replays showed Mears had just nicked the ball away from the Welsh international before making contact and referee Graham Poll was spot on with his decision.

Peschisolido became the first player to be yellow-carded after 31 minutes after a late lunge at West Brom stand-in skipper Paul Robinson. Albion defenders Sam Sodje and Paul McShane quickly followed him into the book for similar challenges on Seth Johnson and Howard respectively.

Koumas began to see more of the ball and he carved out a shooting chance for himself but after cutting back inside but could not keep his effort down.

The nearest either side came to a goal in the opening half was when veteran Albion striker Kevin Phillips hit the bar from 15 yards out after Gera had laid the ball into his path two minutes before the interval.

The second half began at a frantic pace with Kiely doing well to save at the feet of Peschisolido while Bywater held onto Koumas' first-time drive.

Mears became the fourth player to be cautioned for fouling Koumas while a cross shot from Derby skipper Matt Oakley was not far off target.

Derby boss Davies brought on the less than fully fit but potential match-winner Barnes for Peschisolido after 58 minutes and seconds later it took a superb reflex save from Kiely to turn over a powerful close range effort from Oakley.

But the Rams were not to be denied and Barnes set up the opener for Pearson after 61 minutes.

Barnes supplied an inviting low ball across the box after beating the offside trap - and Pearson got in front of McShane to slide the ball past Kiely.

Albion lost their composure for a while before rallying but Bywater was equal to anything thrown at him as he denied Jonathan Greening and Robinson.

The final whistle was the signal for scenes of great joy from Davies, his players and the 30,000 Derby fans.