Norwich back in Premier League

LONDON (AP):

Norwich were promoted to the English Premier League yesterday after a six-year absence from England's top flight.

Simeon Jackson ensured Norwich would finish runner-up in the second tier by clinching a 1-0 victory over Portsmouth after third-place Cardiff were beaten 3-0 by Middlesbrough.

"It's been a magnificent effort by everyone," Jackson said after heading in his ninth goal in seven matches.

Norwich, which dropped out of the Premier League in 2005, were also promoted from the third tier last season after Paul Lambert took charge.

"In the two years we have been here it's a miracle what has happened," Lambert said. "And it's how we've done it, from League One and then the Championship. It's up there with anything I've done."

The eastern English club should be joined in the Premier League by London side Queens Park Rangers (QPR), which clinched the League Championship title on Saturday.

But QPR could face a points-deduction after being charged by The Football Association with flouting a ban on third-party ownership of players, by signing Argentine midfielder Alejandro Faurlin in 2009.

Reading and Welsh rivals Cardiff and Swansea have secured three of the four play-off spots. Nottingham Forest are in pole position to take the fourth spot, but could still be toppled by seventh-place Leeds in the final round of matches on Saturday.