A JUBILANT Alex Neil claimed Norwich’s superior big-game experience was the decisive factor in their Championship play-off final win over Middlesbrough.

Early goals from Cameron Jerome and Nathan Redmond fired the Canaries into the Premier League, and ensured the Norfolk club would bounce back to the top-flight at the first time of asking following their relegation last May.

The majority of yesterday’s starting line-up were involved as Norwich dropped into the Championship 12 months ago, and while Middlesbrough’s players appeared to freeze in front of more than 85,000 fans at Wembley, their opponents were able to handle the occasion much more successfully.

“I always felt our squad was as strong as anyone’s in the Championship,” said Neil. “The initial aim was to win automatic promotion, but when that didn’t happen, I still had a lot of confidence.

“We have a lot of players who have played in big matches and when we needed them most, I thought all of the big players rose to the occasion.”

In particular, Neil was delighted with his side’s explosive start, something that stood in marked contrast to their tawdry early efforts in last month’s 1-0 defeat to Boro at Carrow Road.

“We were criticised for the slow start in our last game, but that wasn’t the case here,” he said. “Middlesbrough are a hard side to peg back when they take the lead, but we knew that there was only one occasion where they had gone a goal down and come back to win.

“We got the first goal, and then when we backed that up with the second, I was confident we would see the game out.”

Yesterday’s victory caps a remarkable personal journey for Neil, whose season began in front of fewer than 800 fans as Hamilton Academicals claimed a Scottish League Cup win over Arbroath.

Having taken Hamilton into the Scottish Premier League via a play-off victory over Hibernian last season, Neil was appointed as Neil Adams’ successor at Carrow Road in January.

“The challenge now is going to be about managing expectations,” he said. “I’ve had two years of back-to-back promotions, so people will be expecting us to go ‘boom’ and do well in the Premier League.

“That’s extremely difficult, but I want to make sure we can compete at that level. The gulf between the Championship and Premier League is vast, but if we can add a few players, I’m sure we can give a good account of ourselves.”