Runaway League One leaders Birmingham City sealed promotion back to the Championship at the first attempt with six games to spare thanks to victory at Peterborough.

Posh's Kwame Poku put the party on hold when he equalised three minutes after Alfie May had put the visitors ahead.

But Taylor Gardner-Hickman restored Blues' lead eight minutes before the interval with what turned out to be the winner.

Big-spending City, relegated last season, are 14 points clear of second-placed Wrexham and now cannot be caught by third-placed Wycombe, despite the Chairboys' win at Huddersfield.

They have led the table for most of the campaign - boss Chris Davies' first season in management - and have achieved their expected promotion at a canter.

In the short term, they spent big in their bid to secure promotion.

Around £25m was shelled out on players, including more than £10m on striker Jay Stansfield - a third-tier transfer record. Seven-figure fees were also paid for Emil Hansson, Ayumu Yokoyama, Alex Cochrane and Scotland forward Lyndon Dykes.

With their massive financial superiority over the rest of League One, this was a job that was very much expected of Birmingham. They have got that job done efficiently, if not spectacularly, scoring the most goals in the division and conceding the fewest.

This season was only ever a stopover, in terms of their ambitious owners' ultimate plan.