Rotherham manager Matt Taylor said securing Championship survival was no more than his team deserved and was made all the “sweeter” by their recent history in the division.
The Millers ensured they cannot be caught by Reading in the third and final relegation spot after beating promotion-chasing Middlesbrough 1-0 at New York Stadium.
Boro were reduced to 10 men just before the break when Anfernee Dijksteel was sent off and Rotherham took advantage at the start of the second half when Hakeem Odoffin fired home the only goal of the game.
The victory meant Rotherham staved off what could have been a fourth successive relegation from the second tier and ends a yo-yoing six-year period for the club between the Championship and League One.
A delighted Taylor, whose side go to rock-bottom Wigan in their final game, said: “What has been before for this club makes this moment sweeter. It’s fully deserved. I don’t know how much more this league can throw at us.
“There is one thing running through this club and that is spirit.
“Even had it gone down to the final game of the season I would have been confident. We are going to be better equipped next season. It’s a big achievement for the club.”
The two key moments of the match came either side of half-time, first with Boro losing Dijksteel in first-half stoppage time when the defender clumsily brought down Jordan Hugill on his route to goal and was given a straight red card.
Then, three minutes after the interval, Rotherham went ahead when Odoffin smashed a low shot beyond Zach Steffen from the edge of the box.
That proved to be the winning goal, although there were some nervy moments for the Millers, with Tommy Smith lashing over at the back post and Viktor Johansson pulling off a despairing save from a deflected effort by Jamie Lindsay.
Taylor said of the two main incidents: “Whether it was a sending-off not, I don’t know, but it felt it at the time.
“It was one moment of quality from Hakeem and time stood still before it hit the back of the net.
“Forty-nine points is a good tally with what has been thrown at us. I won’t be seeing the players for the next couple of days.”
Middlesbrough had already secured a play-off place, but defeat in South Yorkshire means they can no longer catch Luton in third and must settle for fourth spot.
Head coach Michael Carrick said: “I have mixed feelings. I am disappointed that we lost the game because that is definitely not what we came here to do. There are things to learn from it.
“I thought the first half for large parts suited them and not us. It was a bit stop-start and set-plays. There was not a lot of football played.
“The sending-off changes the game. It was a little bit harder to create that chance but I thought the boys did a lot of good things.
“I thought the red card was soft. Darragh (Lenihan) was covering him. It caught me by surprise when he got the red card out.
“If we had got that early goal it would changed the course of the game.”
Bristol City Women 0-4 Man City Women: Hosts relegated as Fowler double inspires WSL leaders
Mary Fowler scored twice to set WSL leaders Manchester City on their way to a 4-0 rout of Bristol City, who suffered relegation as a result, on Sunday.
With Arsenal having drawn with Everton earlier in the day, Man City knew a victory would be enough to take the title race down to two teams.
That victory duly arrived in emphatic fashion, with all four of Man City's goals arriving in the second half.
Fowler's fantastic strike opened the scoring in the 62nd minute, with the Australia international doubling her tally soon after, paving the way for an Amy Rodgers own goal and Alex Greenwood's late header to seal a huge victory.
Arsenal are now out of the title race, with Chelsea - who have two games in hand on Gareth Taylor's team - the only side capable of catching Man City.
The Robins, meanwhile, will be playing in the second tier again next term.
Data Debrief: Bristol heading down with a whimper
Bristol City have failed to score in their last five games in the WSL, a run of 544 minutes without a goal.
They mustered just 0.09 expected goals (xG) to Man City's 3.4, with the visitors having now kept a clean sheet in nine of their 20 league games this season.
De Rossi demands more from 'tired' Roma ahead of crunch run
Daniele De Rossi acknowledged his Roma team may be tired, but he insisted they must not allow themselves to be embarrassed.
Roma fought back to draw 2-2 with last season's Serie A champions Napoli in a pulsating fixture on Sunday.
Tammy Abraham's late header secured a point for De Rossi's team, who took the lead through Paulo Dybala's penalty before going behind to goals from Matias Olivera and Victor Osimhen.
With Serie A set to have five teams in the Champions League next season, Roma occupy fifth spot with four matches remaining, but sixth-placed Atalanta are just two points behind with a game in hand.
There is also the small matter of a Europa League semi-final against Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen on the cards over the coming weeks, and De Rossi set the stall out.
"We drew, it is not a result to throw away, but it is not the result or the performance that we wanted," Roma coach Daniele De Rossi told Sky Sports Italia.
"At times you can steal the ball off Napoli, but we then gave it back again too many times. Napoli had a lot of chances in the first half, we did better in the second, but we have to do better.
"Look, we are tired, but we cannot start thinking that we’re tired and that means we can be embarrassed in the final few weeks of the season."
Roma host Leverkusen on Thursday before taking on Juventus on May 5, with a crunch clash against Atalanta – who are also into the Europa League semi-finals – set to follow after the away leg against Xabi Alonso's team.
Key to a successful end to the campaign for Roma will be keeping Dybala fit. The Argentine has been involved in the joint-most goals (12) in Serie A since the turn of the year, scoring nine and setting up three, level with Juve's Dusan Vlahovic.
PSG's latest Ligue 1 title arrives as Monaco lose to Lyon
Paris Saint-Germain have been crowned as Ligue 1 champions after Lyon overcame Monaco 3-2 on Sunday.
A 4-1 midweek win over Lorient ensured that one more victory would be enough for Luis Enrique's team to get over the line, but PSG failed to get the job done themselves when they faced relegation-threatened Le Havre on Saturday.
That game was the 700th match of the QSI era at PSG, and the club's 1,900th in France's top flight.
However, PSG's wait to win their third straight title did not last long, as less than 24 hours later, Lyon – who will face the Parisians in the final of the Coupe de France at the end of May – came out on top in a topsy turvy encounter with second-placed Monaco.
Substitute Malick Fofana was the matchwinner for Lyon, and ultimately the player who handed the title to PSG.
Wissam Ben Yedder had put Monaco ahead in the opening minute, but quickfire goals from Alexandre Lacazette and Said Benrahma turned the match on its head before half-time.
Ben Yedder netted his second to restore parity on the hour mark, and thought he had sealed his hat-trick when he volleyed in from a free-kick, only to have strayed offside.
With only a win good enough for Monaco to stay in the fight, the visitors were then caught out in the 84th minute, with Fofana racing onto Lacazette's throughball and finishing calmly.
After a dismal start to the season, relegation looked a real possibility for Lyon, but they are now, with three games remaining, still in with a shout of qualifying for Europe.
PSG on the other hand now have 12 Ligue 1 titles to their name, with 10 of those coming under QSI's ownership. Aside from the COVID-impacted 2019-20 season, five of their last six league titles have been secured before the start of May.
It also means Luis Enrique remains in the running for a treble in his first season at the club, with PSG taking on Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League semi-finals next week.
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