Derby County sealed a Championship return by beating already-relegated Carlisle United 2-0 at Pride Park on the final day of the League One season.

Derby knew a single point would end their two-year stay in the third tier of English football, with Bolton Wanderers waiting to pounce if the Rams did suffer a shock defeat.

However, such a slip-up never looked likely as Max Bird's powerful strike from outside the area put them ahead within five minutes, and James Collins added a close-range second on the hour mark to make certain of promotion.

Paul Warne's team finished five points behind Portsmouth, who clinched the title earlier this month, and five clear of Bolton – who needed a late equaliser from Cameron Jerome to draw 3-3 with Peterborough. 

Bolton will face Barnsley in the play-offs as the Tykes were not punished for their 1-1 draw with Northampton Town, defeats for Blackpool and Lincoln City denying them the chance to gatecrash the top six.

Fourth-placed Peterborough will face Oxford United in the other play-off semi-final, as the U's clinched a 2-1 win over Exeter City to claim fifth place in the final reckoning. 

Three of the four relegation places had already been decided before Saturday's matches, with Carlisle, Port Vale, and Fleetwood Town on their way to League Two.

Cheltenham will join them after Nick Freeman struck a 90th-minute winner in their 2-1 loss at Stevenage. Darrell Clarke's side needed a win to save themselves and send Burton Albion down in their place, but they were hit with a late sucker punch as their three-year stay in League One came to an end. 

Derby boss Paul Warne hailed Dwight Gayle’s ability to make “a massive difference” after his first goal for a year helped promotion-chasing County beat Port Vale 3-0 at Pride Park.

The 34-year-old striker, who joined Derby last month as a free agent after leaving Stoke, opened his Rams account to make it 2-0 on the stroke of half-time – just as Vale were starting to cause the home side some problems.

Derby had made a lively start and went ahead in the fourth minute through Louie Sibley, whose shot took a big deflection to beat Connor Ripley.

The Vale goalkeeper denied Derby a second in the 11th minute with a double save from Nathaniel Mendez-Laing and Max Bird and the visitors had a good period before Gayle pounced in the 44th minute.

Ebou Adams provided the cross and Gayle planted a header from 12 yards into the bottom right corner, and Derby sealed victory in the 58th minute through Sibley’s powerful finish.

Warne recognised the importance of Gayle’s first goal since he scored for Stoke on March 4th last year.

He said: “It was nice Dwight got his first goal, I think he’s scored in every league now.

“I’ve said all along you are only ever as good in any game as your goalkeeper and your centre-forward, and if your centre-forward can get a yard in the box and get a goal at a crucial time it makes a massive difference.

“It will give him a right boost, it will do him no end of good. We know he’s rusty but we also know that he can definitely play at this level and he’s another threat for us.

“Some of his touches today were good again and he’s taken a little bit more rust off. It’s obviously great that Dwight scores because all strikers want to score.

“It was nice to get the second goal just before half-time, it made the lads happier in the dressing room but I wasn’t really happy, I was disappointed.

“We had put ourselves under pressure and seemed to panic with three players going for the same ball but I thought in the second half we were comfortable.”

Derby’s win kept them second in League One, seven points behind leaders Portsmouth, while Vale remain deep in trouble at the other end of the table after suffering an eighth defeat in 11 league matches since their last win.

Vale manager Darren Moore said: “We gave ourselves a mountain to climb conceding an early goal. The manner of the goal wasn’t very good but I just thought in the game after we had that early setback we never really condensed the pitch.

“I think the difficult thing was the two goals, one in the first five minutes and then the other just before half-time, that was probably the most disappointing one because 2-0 is a damaging blow.

“There is a little bit of naivety with us, our mindset can be better, needs to be better, will be better because we get some time to work with them on the training ground this week.”

Dwight Gayle scored his first Derby goal and Louie Sibley bagged a brace in a comfortable 3-0 win over struggling Port Vale.

It keeps Derby second in League One and leaves Vale without a win this year and deep in relegation trouble.

Derby made a lively start and went ahead in the fourth minute through Sibley whose shot took a big deflection to beat Connor Ripley.

The Vale keeper denied Derby a second in the 11th minute with a double save from Nathaniel Mendez-Laing and Max Bird before Tom Barkhuizen fired over from eight yards for the hosts.

Vale appeared to have weathered the storm but they conceded again in the 44th minute with Gayle planting a precision header from 12 yards past Ripley.

Ben Garrity headed a Vale corner wide at the start of the second half but Derby sealed victory in the 58th minute when Joe Ward crossed to the back post and Sibley finished emphatically.

Derby could have added further goals while third-bottom Vale failed to register a shot on target.

Derby assistant manager Richie Barker was delighted with the way the Rams executed their game plan in Tuesday night’s 3-0 League One victory at Exeter to boost their promotion hopes.

The home side saw more of the ball – they enjoyed 70 per cent possession – but the ruthless Rams were clinical with their chances and won the game with goals from Max Bird, Nathaniel Mendez-Laing and Tom Barkhuizen.

“I am pleased for our fans, given the long journey and to take something back is pleasing,” Barker said. “It is nice to get the clean sheet and it doesn’t do the goal difference any harm either.

“We were patient out of possession and I am sure – if you look at the stats – it will look like they have dominated the game.

“They are obviously a very good technical side and very well coached. We came with a plan to ensure we only pressed certain passes and we did it really well.

“There is a lot of work that goes on to ensure we give them the correct information. No two games are the same and we will have a totally different game on Saturday than tonight.

“We have to make sure the players are best prepared we we can. That is why we do the work we do and sometimes you have to sacrifice your principles in terms of letting certain teams have it and pressing certain passes.

“The lads took the information on really well.”

Exeter manager Gary Caldwell rued the mistakes that led to Derby’s goals and said: “I think they punished us for every mistake we made.

“In those big moments, against the big teams, we have to be more ruthless when we lose the ball.

“We have to foul and we have to penetrate the (defensive) line more. I thought we played well in two thirds of the pitch.
They sat back and allowed us to have the ball.

“We have to recognise that having the ball is not enough and we have to penetrate and we have to create better moments from having the ball.

“I think it is a lesson that we have to take. I don’t think it’s a disaster to lose to a team that is second in the league, but there are definitely moments where we can improve and we have to learn that very quickly.

“I thought we played well in possession in two thirds of the pitch, but we could have created more.

“There are details within the game that I feel we can improve. There are details that we did very well and the biggest lesson for me is that against these teams with physicality, speed, power and quality, they punish you for any mistake you make and we have to take that on the chin.”

Derby boosted their League One promotion hopes with a comfortable 3-0 victory at Exeter.

The Rams created the first chance with James Collins firing straight at Vili Sinisalo from 10 yards, while Exeter’s Reece Cole was off target with a shot from distance before sending a free-kick straight at goalkeeper Joe Wildsmith.

Derby took the lead in the 24th minute. Ilmari Niskanen lost the ball to Max Bird, who drove forward before firing past Sinisalo from distance as his shot bounced over the goalkeeper’s arm and into the net.

Jack Aitchison fired against the base of the post for Exeter, but it was Derby that ended the first half on top with Bird twice forcing Sinisalo into saves with long-range shots.

The Rams doubled their lead after 52 minutes when Nathaniel Mendez-Laing burst onto a ball over the top and had too much pace for the Exeter defence as he slammed it past Sinisalo and into the bottom corner.

The Rams completed the scoring in the 62nd minute when Tom Barkhuizen received the ball wide on the left and cut infield before curling a delightful shot into the far corner.

Derby head coach Paul Warne blamed the “fear” factor for his team’s failure to defend the lead against Shrewsbury.

Max Bird fired Derby ahead only for Aaron Pierre to equalise three minutes from the end of normal time.

It was a disappointing end to what had been a frustrating afternoon for Derby, with Shrewsbury doing a good job of restricting them to few clear chances.

Warne said: “I thought first half was my fault, I picked the wrong shape for the game. We didn’t really get out and we looked a bit edgy.

“I changed the system and we looked a lot more like it second half and created some decent opportunities.

“We got the lead and then it’s all about getting the second goal, but we didn’t play with enough personality to create enough chances to get a second.

“My regret is we didn’t play with enough personality and freedom when we were leading and it looked like we played with a little bit of fear and you’re never going to get success off that.

“I’m hugely disappointed that we worked all week to get the win and we’ve lost it on a throw-in. It does feel like it’s two points lost (especially) when it’s that late on.”

Derby made the most of one of their rare openings in the 54th minute with Bird firing a low shot under Marko Marosi following a corner.

Marosi turned behind a Conor Hourihane free-kick before Shrewsbury stunned Pride Park when Mal Benning got behind Derby on the left and found Pierre, who beat Joe Wildsmith with a low drive.

Wildsmith saved from Carl Winchester but Derby almost won it in stoppage time as Curtis Nelson headed against the bar and Tom Barkhuizen was denied by Marosi.

Shrewsbury head coach Paul Hurst said: “I’m pleased with a point, I think we’d have taken that before the game, although we came here not just to take a point or hang on.

“The feel I had was I don’t think they caused us too many problems but when we fell behind you’re concerned about how the rest of the game would pan out, but it seemed to spark us into wanting to play more.

“That’s a frustration but pleasing as well – as in, was that a great response from us or from them taking a backward step because they got themselves in front?

“We started to pass the ball more and had a spell where we were good. I still think there’s got to be more belief from the players at times, although overall I think we deserved that point.”

Derby assistant head coach Richie Barker admitted he still had frustrations despite his side’s 4-0 demolition of Northampton.

Barker thought the margin of victory should have been even bigger after Derby bounced back in style from defeat to Stevenage to blow Northampton away.

He said: “I’m pleased with the result but more so with the performance, the goals were excellent.

“My biggest frustration, if I’m being honest, is that it wasn’t more. It was a good opportunity for us to send out a real message but it’s about reaction and the ability to put things behind them 48 hours later and get on with it.

“Our reaction to losing the ball was excellent, we have to do the right things. People come here to watch goals, but you have to get the ball back to do that.

“Northampton ended up playing three different formations in the first half, which shows we created issues for them.

“People have gone away from here tonight saying we have the right work ethic. I was proud of them as a group of players. At the weekend we didn’t compete physically but here we gained in confidence.”

Max Bird scored his first goal of the season in the 14th minute, steering in a cross from Conor Washington who then burst between two defenders to add a second in the 22nd minute.

Bird bagged his second 10 minutes later when he converted Conor Hourihane’s clever pass and although Northampton made three changes at the break, they were opened up again in the 49th minute with Nathaniel Mendez-Laing dispatching Tom Barkhuizen’s cross.

Barkhuizen and James Collins missed good chances to add to Northampton’s misery but the result was still Derby’s biggest win of the season.

Northampton manager Jon Brady said: “They are an incredible team, they moved the ball brilliantly well with great rotations.

“We talked defensively about the way we had to move with the speed of the ball but when you have players who aren’t moving at the speed of the ball and leaving big gaps, it was plain to see in the first 15 minutes we weren’t at the races really.

“They were probably on a night at their best and we need to have every single player at 12 out of 10 to even have a chance of competing and our levels weren’t anywhere near that.

“We had little spells but we couldn’t get anywhere near their goal. Not being disrespectful to our players but they are a high-class team in the way they played and unfortunately we were below our standards to even try and get anything out of the game.”