Luton Town 0 Sunderland 5

FOR many years Kenilworth Road was the home of the plastic pitch. There is, however, nothing artificial about the fact that Sunderland have returned to the Premiership as champions of the Championship.

The Black Cats, by saving the best until last, ended the campaign with their most comprehensive victory of the season and leapfrogged Birmingham City at the top of the Football League, sparking incredible scenes of jubilation in Bedfordshire.

Roy Keane - the mastermind behind Sunderland's unbelievable revival from the depths of a relegation place in August - applauded the fans and too a backseat to allow his players to revel in the adulation after securing Sunderland's second Championship title success in three years. Keane hardly raised a smile.

The farcical absence of the trophy may have taken some of the sparkle away from yesterday's celebrations but Keane, armed with a hefty transfer kitty this summer, has his eyes on far more prestigious pieces of silverware in the coming years.

Given his incredible pedigree, his actions at Luton were hardly surprising.

They perfectly illustrated why he has taken the decision not to parade his squad on an open top bus this week.

In Keane's eyes this Football League triumph, witnessed by at least double the official figure of 1,800 Sunderland supporters inside the primitive ground, is just the start of the progress he wants the club to make under his guidance.

Sunderland's fourth promotion to the top-flight in the last 11 years portrays a club struggling to compete persistently with England's elite. This time, however, hopes of competing in Europe over the next few years are far from fanciful.

This display had moments of Premiership class, although Keane and chairman Niall Quinn realise their summer workload has hugely increased if Sunderland are to become a force to be reckoned with.

After Sunderland had taken a two-goal lead within the opening six minutes through Anthony Stokes and Daryl Murphy, the masses of travelling support pocketed inside the stadium must have sensed this was going to be their day.

And by the time David Connolly had headed in the fifth goal of the afternoon three minutes from the end, after further goals from Murphy and Ross Wallace, leaders Birmingham had fallen behind at Preston and the race for the title was won.

Both Connolly and Wallace started on the bench. It would have been out of character for Keane to retain the same starting line-up that clinched promotion against Burnley. And, on the final day of his first season in charge, he ended in the same fashion.

Keane has found consistency in results by being inconsistent with his selections and among his four changes yesterday was the call-up of Hungarian Marton Fulop in goal. There was also a rare run out for Stephen Wright at full-back.

But it was Stokes and Murphy, two of the survivors from that memorable night at the Stadium of Light nine days earlier, who put Sunderland in command within the first six minutes.

Both strikes had quality about them, even if Luton's defensive inefficiencies were clear and an obvious reason why they had suffered relegation from the Championship before Sunderland's visit.

With Sunderland's first purposeful move forward, Murphy was the creator of the opener when he rolled the ball toward Stokes and the young Irishman struck a first-time shot into goalkeeper Dean Brill's bottom left corner.

Large gatherings of Sunderland fans, with tickets for the home areas inside the ground, leapt high in celebration, sparking a couple of minor brawls in the main stand.

And Sunderland's second, less than two minutes later, could have made the whole situation inside Kenilworth Road worse.

A long ball down the right from captain Dean Whitehead was passed inside by former Luton winger Carlos Edwards. Murphy, after taking a decent first touch, crashed in the second from the edge of the area.

Fortunately there were no more unsavoury incidents in the crowd and the remainder of the half was rather tentative, with Sunderland fans convinced their task was done as they waited for developments at Deepdale.

Fulop, rarely tested seriously by the Hatters' inept pushes forward, was on hand to clear any deep crosses into his area and on the one occasion he was forced into a save in the first half he comfortably held Calvin Andrew's tame header.

Stokes, although being monitored well by right-back Keith Keane, was Sunderland's biggest threat for the remainder of the opening period and Brill denied him a second with a fine stop at the near post, which was followed by another save from Grant Leadbitter's drive.

Stokes, finding plenty space down the left wing, was also the orchestrator of Sunderland's third less than a minute into the second half.

After initially being denied by Keane, Stokes was fed possession in space down the wing by Leadbitter after Sunderland had thwarted a woeful pass forward by Besian Idrizaj.

Stokes, given far too much freedom, was able to pick out the unmarked Murphy just two yards from the line and he tapped in at the far post to further dampen the spirits of the hosts.

Given the situation, it was hardly party time at Kenilworth Road for the visitors. In fact there was quite often silence while there was still no breakthrough at Preston.

Sunderland, though, retained their focus and passed the ball around with the confidence that a three-goal cushion afforded them.

But it could have been reduced had referee Lee Mason taken the opportunity to award a penalty to Luton when Jonny Evans tripped a furious Idrizaj as he charged into the box on the right.

With the exception of possibly infuriating the perfectionist Keane, a Luton goal would have done precisely nothing to alter the outcome of the Championship.

But Sunderland, delivering every bit a champions performance, remained focused on the job and no pity was shown to their opponents.

And, after Wallace was introduced 14 minutes before time, the little Scot took less than two minutes to increase the handsome lead. The former Celtic winger, handed possession from 25 yards, arrowed his drive into Brill's bottom left.

Then, with hardly any time for the celebrations from that goal to die down, Sunderland's players were given the indication from the crowd that Birmingham had fallen behind. Sunderland were top.

And, just to cement the fact, Connolly headed in his 13th of the season from Leadbitter's centre.

Sunderland, with their biggest win of the campaign, had succeeded what they wanted to achieve in incredible fashion.

The Premiership awaits