Brighton 2 Wolves 0 - match report

Defeat condemned Dean Saunders' crestfallen side to the drop and one of the blackest days in the club's 136-year history.

It meant the results of rivals Peterborough, who lost 3-2 at Crystal Palace to join them in League One, and Barnsley, who drew 2-2 at Huddersfield to survive, didn't matter.

First-half goals by Kazenga Lua Lua after five and 39 minutes left them trailing 2-0 at the break and there was no way back.

And there was an ugly backdrop to the final minutes of Wolves' time in the Championship.

Jamie O'Hara ran a gauntlet of abuse from the 2,000 travelling fans after appearing to respond with a thumbs-up gesture to the fans after supporters chanted "Forty grand a week, you're having a laugh".

O'Hara turned his back on the fans without applauding them at the final whistle and was first off the pitch while his team-mates at least stayed on to thank them for their support.

Wolves' second successive relegation means they have an unwanted slice of history as the first English club to suffer the drop from the first to the third tier in successive seasons twice.

And Brighton were again the team to deliver the final blow, just as they did when Wolves last dropped into the old Third Division exactly 28 years ago on May 4, 1985.

Wolves never looked like threatening the script after bowing out with a limp performance on the south coast.

They briefly threatened in the third minute when Bakary Sako, who made the starting line-up for the first time since tearing his hamstring on March 16 against Bristol City, hit the outside of the post with a trademark fierce shot from 22 yards.

But it quickly turned sour as Lua Lua cut inside from the left before rifling home from 25 yards with a shot Dorus De Vries could do nothing about.

A week after playing a more direct style against Burnley, Wolves tried to copy Brighton's patient passing game but they were no match for the slicker hosts, who moved the ball about with ease.

Wolves' only other chance came in the first half and direct from a corner, when Tomasz Kuszczak struggled to hold Sako's viciously inswinging corner low down on the line.

Brighton made it 2-0 when Lua Lua punished careless defending from Matt Doherty and Roger Johnson to lash home an angled left-foot shot and bury any wafer-thin hopes of a comeback.

There was little to suggest Wolves could ever get the win they needed to even make an imprint on the relegation picture.

O'Hara whistled a shot wide when attempting to recreate his famous goal at The Hawthorns from Sako's free kick three minutes before the break.

Sako was replaced at half-time by Stephen Hunt, who tried to inject some much-needed life into the team.

His cross saw shots blocked by captain Kevin Doyle and Tongo Doumbia before Hunt himself saw an effort charged down in a livelier return from the visitors.

It reached its height in the 55^th minute when Matt Doherty's up-and-down header bounced over the bar from O'Hara's free kick before a shot on the turn by Doyle was fumbled by Kuszczak on 64 minutes.

But that was it as far as Wolves attacks went as the rest of the game was played out almost like a training game and the long-suffering fans were left to reflect on the impending drop.

Relegation had been on the cards for two months with Saunders unable to stop the slide after the sacking of Stale Solbakken in January following just seven months in charge.

Wolves slipped into the bottom three on February 19 with the 2-1 defeat at Barnsley and have flirted with danger ever since.

Saunders has blamed the slide on injuries to key players Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, Bakary Sako, Dave Edwards, David Davis and Carl Ikeme.

But the squad should have performed far better over the season and avoided being in the desperate situation the club now finds itself in.

The future of Saunders is now one of many issues to be decided by under-fire owner and chairman Steve Morgan as they prepare for the grim transition to League One football, while huge changes are expected in the squad and possibly behind the scenes with jobs on the line.