A 1-0 victory over fellow high-fliers Sunderland RCA in front of a bumper crowd at Filtrona Park was enough to start the celebrations.

Shields had gone into the game needing just a point, but for 75 minutes the outcome was on a knife edge.

But top scorer Mark Johnson settled the nerves by racing away to slot home what turned out to be the vital goal, and despite five minutes of injury time, Shields were never in any real danger of throwing promotion away.

The celebrations on the final whistle were a far cry from the dismay on Saturday, when the Mariners blew their first chance to seal promotion, losing 2-0 to Norton & Stockton.

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Steadman had some harsh words for his players after that performance, and a couple of them paid the price as he rang the changes last night.

But he had nothing but praise for his side after last night's gritty effort.

Steadman said: "This is a fantastic achievement for the club.
"The pitch wasn't any better than what it was on Saturday, but we dug in and showed more commitment.

"At times we couldn't play flowing football, but every player was committed – if we'd played like that on Saturday we would have won that game.

"I don't think any neutral watcher could deny that we deserved it."

Shields return to Division One after an eight-year absence, wen they finished rock bottom at the end of the 1999-2000 campaign.

More recently, however, it's only two years since the club was on the brink of going out of existence, with the Mariners unable to field a team for games and the gates being locked to Filtrona Park.

Since then, a new committee has transformed the fortunes of the club, and on the pitch, Steadman has developed a team of young, local talent.

And having experienced the disappointment of just missing out on promotion last season, he wore a huge grin accross his face in the clubhouse after last night's game.

"I'm delighted, obviously," he said. "Foregt the last eight years, what matters more is the fact that it was just two years since this club almost went bust, so it's great to see the celebrations now."

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Chairman Gary Crutwell was equally relieved – though he revealed that he missed most of last night's game!

Crutwell, who along with secretary Phil Reay has been one of the men most responsible for the turnaround in fortunes, has put in a lot of work behind the scenes to bring Shields back from the brink.

He said: "I missed most of the game because there was a boiler that needed fixing!

"It's fantastic for the club, and hopefully the start of bigger things. We've got a couple of plans in the pipeline for the future – the potential of this club is massive."