Bob Taylor sealed his place on the list of West Bromwich Albion immortals as The Hawthorns celebrated a return to top-flight football after 16 years.

The 35-year-old, who is in his second spell with the club, can never have scored a more important goal than the 58th-minute toe-poke which confirmed his side's elevation at the expense of Black Country rivals Wolves.

Now Taylor's name can be writ large in this half of the Black Country along with legends like Cyrille Regis and Laurie Cunningham who wore the blue and white stripes the last time Albion were in English football's top division.

Darren Moore, a man his team-mates know as 'Big Dave', had settled the considerable nerves swilling around the stadium with a 15th minute opener.

Albion, who had won 1-0 an extraordinary 17 times already this season, would have settled for that.

But Taylor had other ideas, and when Neil Clement's hard low shot from the right was spilled by Crystal Palace keeper Alex Kolinko, the veteran goal poacher was on hand to slide home number two and start the wild celebrations.

One month ago Albion were 11 points behind Wolves and settling for the play-offs - no mean achievement under Gary Megson, whose net transfer outlay in his two years in charge is just £2million.

When he joined, Albion needed a last day win over Charlton to stay in the First Division. They failed in the play-offs last year, and here, amid a blaze of colour and a wall of sound, Albion's remarkable resurrection was complete.

That their victory came at the expense of the unmentionables from up the road gave Albion's celebrations an even greater lift, and for much of the afternoon the news from Hillsborough - where ironically Megson used to play - was not slow in filtering through to the jam-packed stands.

But for the first three minutes, with the ground positively crackling with excitement and tension, it looked like it could be the gold half of the region which would be celebrating.

Palace had two golden chances within seconds of each other. Midfielder Danny Granville picked up David Hopkin's free-kick 25 yards out and fired a rising shot which Russell Hoult had to tip over the bar.

And from Simon Rodger's resulting corner Hoult was caught out and it was down to Derek McInnes to clear the danger from 12 yards out.

As Albion got to grips with the occasion veteran Taylor almost succeeded in chasing down a hesitant back-pass from Tony Popovic, then Taylor ran onto Daniele Dichio's through-ball but flashed a left-foot volley just wide.

But with chances at a premium and the home crowd beginning to quieten down, Albion's initial breakthrough could not have come at a better time.

Derek McInnes floated a free-kick in from the left flank and after Palace failed to clear, Moore stole in at the far post for only his second goal of the season.

Albion began to bank on their magnificent record of single-goal record so although they afforded Palace plenty of possession, crisp defending from Moore in particular gave them few equalising chances.

Clement and Dichio came close at the other end then Balis, making great progress down the right, beat Kolinko to a Taylor through-ball and attempted a 40-yard chip which sailed narrowly over the bar.

The mood for the last five minutes became strained again when Wolves went ahead. But Albion could have increased their lead, first when Dobie, a late substitute for Taylor, had the ball in the net but was ruled offside.

Dobie also had a golden chance in the last minute when he went clean through but was denied twice by Palace keeper Kolinko.

Tannoy calls for the Albion fans to stay off the pitch were predictably ignored. When referee Eddie Wolstenholme blew his whistle and raced straight off up the tunnel, half the Black Country tried to follow him. They will probably not stop until they are back for their Premiership campaign in August.

Teams

West Brom Hoult, Gilchrist, Moore, Sigurdsson, Clement, McInnes, Johnson (Jordao 73), Balis, Adam Chambers, Taylor (Dobie 66), Dichio (Fox 90).

Subs Not Used: Petterson, Cummings.

Goals: Moore 17, Taylor 54.

Crystal Palace Kolinko, Austin, Popovic, Granville, Rodger (Rubins 57), Mullins, Riihilahti (Kirovski 67), Hopkin, Fleming, Morrison, Akinbiyi (Black 47).

Subs Not Used: Carasso, Berhalter.

Booked: Mullins.

Att: 26,712

Ref: E Wolstenholme (Blackburn).