Boro back in big time

Cristhian Stuani’s early strike paved the way for Middlesbrough to win the so-called richest match in football and confirm their return to the Premier League after a seven-year absence.

Needing just a draw against promotion rivals Brighton by virtue of their better goal difference, Boro were pegged back by a second-half equaliser from Dale Stephens, who was later sent off, but the second goal the Seagulls pressed desperately for never came.

Talk of a £170m jackpot might seem obscene in a region recently blighted by steel redundancies, and the celebrations at the final whistle intimated Boro’s joyous supporters are more interested in a prize that money could not buy.

Seven years after sinking out of the top flight on the final day of the season, Aitor Karanka’s impressive, if occasionally tumultuous revolution, was complete, and some of the biggest clubs in the world will be back at the Riverside Stadium next season.

Brighton, who travelled north in search of their own fairy tale, 19 years after Robbie Reinelt’s goal at Hereford prevented them dropping out of the Football League, must now prepare themselves to seek promotion through the play-offs – Sheffield …

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