George Hirst shone with a goal and an assist as Ipswich Town earned a 3-0 win over QPR, which sealed their automatic promotion back to the Premier League.

Ipswich went into the final day of the Championship season knowing they needed to better the results of Millwall and Middlesbrough to ensure they finished second.

And at a bouncing Portman Road, they wasted no time in taking control. 

Leif Davies' cross caused chaos in the QPR box as it rolled along the goal line, with Hirst there to prod it home in the third minute.

Hirst then turned provider in the ninth minute. QPR were caught playing out from the back, and a quick counter-attack saw the forward turn to set up Jaden Philogene's composed finish.

Hirst and Philogene had chances to add to Ipswich's lead early in the second half, with Joe Walsh equal to them, while Paul Smyth forced a smart stop out of Christian Walton at the other end with seven minutes remaining.

Kasey McAteer added some late gloss to the scoreline, though. QPR lost the ball on the edge of their own box, and though Jack Taylor's attempt was smothered by Walsh, McAteer fired in the rebound to truly get the party going in the stands.

Millwall finished just one point behind Ipswich, after a double from Femi Aziz secured them a 2-0 win over Oxford United.

And Middlesbrough, who had opened the scoring against Wrexham within four minutes, dropped to fifth in the table after fighting back for a 2-2 draw at the Racecourse Ground.

Southampton won 3-1 at Preston North End to finish fourth, and they will be Middlesbrough's opponents in the play-offs, as Millwall take on Hull City.

Data Debrief: Holding their nerve

Ipswich knew what they needed to do to get over the line, and their rapid start effectively ended any other teams' hopes of overtaking them, though it should have been expected.

Excluding the curtailed 2019-20 League One campaign, Ipswich are unbeaten in their final league game of their last seven seasons outside the Premier League (W5 D2).

And they have lost just one of their last 44 Championship matches at Portman Road (W29 D14), going unbeaten since a 3-0 defeat to Charlton Athletic in October.

Ipswich were deserving of their win, racking up 2.05 expected goals (xG) from 14 shots, while limiting QPR to 0.68 xG from their 12 attempts.