Bartley, Bilic relieved as West Brom go up

LONDON • West Bromwich Albion defender Kyle Bartley admitted that nothing worth it comes easy after his side won promotion back to the Premier League following a two-year absence in a dramatic finale to the Championship campaign.

West Brom are expected to reap some £170 million (S$299 million) in rewards in England's top flight next season and they were made to work for it on a nerve-shredding night at the Hawthorns on Wednesday.

Anything other than a win over Queen's Park Rangers could have allowed Brentford to sneak into the runners-up spot behind champions Leeds United.

As it turned out, a 2-2 draw was enough as Brentford were beaten 2-1 by Barnsley.

West Brom's hopes of avoiding the ordeal of the play-offs, where they fell last season, were wavering when QPR took the lead, then again when the visitors levelled matters. At 2-2 and with Brentford drawing 1-1, they were walking a tightrope, but news of Barnsley's winner offered respite for West Brom, who have been in the top two virtually all season but struggled since the restart following the three-month Covid-19 shutdown.

"It's been an emotional roller-coaster," Bartley told BBC Radio WM. "But nothing worth having in life is going to come easy."

His manager Slaven Bilic admitted he got more than he signed up for.

"I was very vocal when I said I would always like to manage in the Championship because it's especially difficult," said the former Croatia boss.

"I never imagined it would be this difficult, this demanding. It's exhausting. I didn't enjoy every minute of it, of course, but with a finish like this, the results at the bottom, the (Nottingham) Forest situation, it's unbelievable."

Forest began the night among the play-off spots and could only slip out if they lost, Cardiff City avoided defeat and Swansea City won and made up six goals on Forest.

Cardiff duly beat Hull City 3-0 to send them down to the third tier alongside Charlton.

Swansea won 4-1 at Reading and Forest capitulated at home to Stoke City, conceding three late goals to lose by the same score.

Swansea will now meet Brentford while Cardiff take on Fulham in the play-offs.

"Football is 80 per cent suffering and 10 per cent joy," said Brentford manager Thomas Frank, whose side lost their last two games after winning eight in a row and closing a 10-point gap. "We need to go again and pick ourselves up."

Barnsley's unlikely win, sealed late on by substitute Clarke Oduor, meant they would have finished third from bottom on 49 points, but Wigan Athletic's 12-point deduction for entering administration meant they were saved - for now.

Wigan would have stayed above the drop zone had any number of late chances gone in during the 1-1 draw with Fulham. But the Latics, now on 47 points, will have their fate decided by an appeal.

REUTERS