Middlesbrough swat away Bees to reach playoff final

LONDON (Reuters) - Middlesbrough moved within one victory of securing a golden ticket to the Premier League by cruising past Brentford 3-0 to win their Championship semi-final promotion playoff 5-1 on aggregate on Friday.

(Reuters)

Lee Tomlin opened the scoring midway through the first half with a curling right-foot shot from 20 metres before Spaniard Kike and Albert Adomah killed the "Bees" off in the second period.

Middlesbrough, coached by Spaniard Aitor Karanka, will meet Norwich City or Ipswich Town in the final at Wembley on May 25.

Norwich go into their home second leg against Ipswich on Saturday having drawn the first match 1-1 at Portman Road.

The winners of the final are set to earn an estimated 120 million pounds ($188.72 million) by reaching the Premier League.

Bournemouth and Watford were automatically promoted to the top flight.

($1 = 0.6358 pounds)

(Writing by Tony Jimenez, editing by Ken Ferris)