Roy Keane crowned his first season as a manager by leading Sunderland to the Coca-Cola Championship title after their crushing win over relegated Luton saw them overtake Birmingham at the summit.

Blues' 1-0 defeat at Preston means Keane's team, who prevailed at Kenilworth Road thanks to a double from Daryl Murphy and goals from Anthony Stokes and substitutes Ross Wallace and David Connolly, finish two points above them, one week after both clubs had secured automatic promotion to the Barclays Premiership.

A remarkable run of just one defeat in 20 matches was the catalyst for Sunderland's march up the table, and the difference in class between Keane's side and their opponents was colossal.

Keane made four changes to his Sunderland side, recalling his former Manchester United team-mate Dwight Yorke as well as Grant Leadbitter and Stephen Wright, while Marton Fulop replaced Darren Ward in goal.

Sunderland fans packed out the 1,800-capacity Oak Stand, and several pockets of them also made themselves heard among the Luton supporters in the main stand.

Unfortunately, it took less than five minutes for trouble to flare in that area, as two men threw punches at one another before one was ejected.

Shortly afterwards, six men were led out of the ground from the Kenilworth Stand lower tier behind the goal, which is supposed to contain only home supporters.

By that time, Sunderland were 2-0 up. Stokes gave them the perfect start by drilling home from 15 yards after exchanging passes with Murphy in the fourth minute.

And two minutes later Murphy scored a brilliant second, collecting former Luton man Carlos Edwards' lay-off before unleashing a powerful left-footed drive from 25 yards which flew past Dean Brill and into the left corner of the net.

Sunderland were clearly the superior side, and they almost scored a third when Edwards and Wright combined for Edwards to earn a corner when his angled shot was deflected past the left post.

Luton had not troubled Fulop, but the goalkeeper was lucky in the 29th minute when he flapped at Chris Coyne's long free-kick, although Calvin Andrew could not take advantage.

At the other end, Edwards set up Stokes, whose well-struck effort drew a sharp save from Brill, who then did well to hold onto Leadbitter's effort from the edge of the penalty area seconds later.

Sunderland began the second half as they had ended the first, scoring their third goal within a minute of the re-start. Leadbitter released Stokes on the left, allowing the former Arsenal man to square the ball for Murphy, who tapped in from four yards.

Stokes, Edwards and substitute David Connolly all wasted chances to make the scoreline more impressive as Sunderland continued to outclass their opponents, while for Luton Chris Coyne headed Matthew Spring's cross wide in the 73rd minute.

Sunderland did score their fourth 12 minutes from time when Ross Wallace, another substitute, produced an outstanding left-footed strike from 30 yards a minute after replacing Edwards.

In the 86th minute, Connolly underlined Sunderland's superiority even further by heading in Leadbitter's free-kick from the left.

Teams:

Luton Brill, Keane, Coyne, Barnett, Emanuel,O'Leary (Langley 55), Spring, Heikkinen, Bell (Brkovic 60),Andrew, Idrizaj.

Subs Not Used: Perrett, Boyd, Talbot.

Booked: Coyne, Idrizaj, Keane, Brkovic.

Sunderland Fulop, Wright, Evans, Collins, Leadbitter,Edwards (Wallace 75), Whitehead (Connolly 57), Nosworthy,Murphy (John 57), Stokes, Yorke.

Subs Not Used: Varga, Liam Miller.

Booked: Stokes, Evans, Collins.

Goals: Stokes 4, Murphy 6, 46, Wallace 77, Connolly 86.

Sunderland are Champions

Att: 10,260

Ref: L Mason (Lancashire).