CHAMPIONSHIP PLAY-OFF OH YES

Tom’s winner hits the jackpot and delivers glorious end to Jokanovic’s three-year plan

SLAVISA JOKANOVIC saluted promotion to the Premier League as a victory for football.

The Serbian coach saw his three-year project come to fruition in style as Tom Cairney’s wellworked first-half strike saw them over the line.

The Scot finished off a pinpoint pass from teen wonder Ryan Sessegnon as the 10-man Cottagers withstood a fierce second-half claret and blue barrage.

Denis Odoi was dismissed after his second caution for fouling Villa playmaker Jack Grealish as the game entered its latter stages.

Windfall

But Fulham held firm. After a 23-game unbeaten run towards the end of the season playing an open brand of football, they were asked to play in a pressure cooker ‘winner-takes-all’ arena with an estimated £170million windfall at stake. And they did. Jokanovic (bottom right), wearing a club tracksuit after being drenched in champagne, said: “To follow the style we have been for three years has not been easy.

“First year, the plan was not to be relegated. Second year, build the team. This year it was to prove it was possible.

“It was a really important victory. It’s not easy playing one game at Wembley. There is a big pressure.

“It was the first experience for me and some young players, too. We must be satisfied. We believe we can play this way. Today we showed it.”

Asked if he could continue playing this way in the top flight, he added: “We must adapt ourselves to what is ahead of us. We must be clever and not take one step back. We must show ambition.”

Admirers

Goalscorer Cairney echoed his boss’s comments, saying it was hugely satisfying after last season’s play-off semi-final defeat against Reading.

He added: “After we missed out last season, a lot of people wrote us off. We got a lot of stick. But football won today. Football won.”

With such a lot of money riding on the outcome, Fulham could have been forgiven for ditching the approach that has won them so many admirers.

But they played out from the keeper, backed themselves to move up the pitch and cause problems.

And it was fitting that it was Sessegnon, who controlled a fierce Stefan Johansen crossfield pass before threading a pass between John Terry and Alan Hutton for Cairney to sweep home midway through the first half. Villa paid the price for a opening period show that manager Steve Bruce slammed, admitting: “We just didn’t do enough.”

Roared on by a following that wanted to relive the glory days on the 36th anniversary of the club’s European Cup triumph, they rallied after the interval. Grealish was the stand-out performer. By some distance.

Grealish had already pulled half a dozen fouls when Ryan Fredericks shoved him over near the touchline five minutes before the break.

The full-back jumped over the Villa man but his foot came down on Grealish’s thigh. Bruce was less than impressed.

He said: “For me, the boy should have had a red card.

“He stamps on him. No one wants to see a spectacle ruined but he deserved a red card.

“It’s part of their game plan.