Cardiff City confirmed their immediate return to the Championship as they won at Reading and Exeter City scored an injury-time equaliser against Stockport County to seal League One promotion for the Bluebirds in dramatic fashion.

Fourth-place Stockport looked like they were going to make the Bluebirds wait for their celebrations as they led 2-0 and 3-2 at relegation-threatened Exeter, whose goalkeeper Jack Bycroft scored in the sixth minute of added time to spark rapturous scenes among Cardiff's fans at Reading.

The Bluebirds had taken care of their side of business, beating Reading 3-1 to all but confirm promotion even if Stockport had held on for victory.

But it was not until the final stages of stoppage time at the Select Car Lease Stadium that news had filtered through about Exeter's staggering fightback.

Cardiff had taken the lead late in the first half as captain Rubin Colwill headed in from Ryan Wintle's cross in front of a sold-out away end holding 3,000 boisterous Cardiff fans.

Omari Kellyman scored their second after the interval, latching on to Wintle's incisive through ball and finishing calmly.

Reading got themselves back into contention as Daniel Kyerewaa struck on the rebound after Lewis Wing's free-kick was saved by Nathan Trott.

But Perry Ng made sure of the win for Cardiff as he lashed in a superb third from the edge of the penalty area before running the length of the field to celebrate with the Bluebirds' fans.

Meanwhile, defeat almost ends Reading's fading hopes of reaching the play-offs, leaving them 10th in League One and six points behind Stevenage in sixth with only two games left.

Cardiff came into this game knowing that promotion was a matter of time; only the most improbable sequence of events could deny them an immediate return to the Championship.

Their expectant fans had snapped up their ticket allocation at Reading weeks in advance, sensing promotion could be sealed here – but in the knowledge that their team had the security of three matches afterwards should they need them.

That alleviated some of the pressure on the Bluebirds, though Reading were not simply going to roll over, as they still had a chance of making the play-offs.

The Royals played their part in an even, open start to the game which produced chances at both ends and kept both goalkeepers busy.

Cardiff gradually cranked up the pressure and got their reward when Wintle's cross was superbly headed in by Colwill to start the celebrations.

Kellyman's equally impressive finish for the Bluebirds' second maintained the feelgood factor in the away end, though an even bigger cheer came when news got through to the travelling fans that Exeter had fought back from 2-0 down to equalise against Stockport.

At that stage, Cardiff were going up – but Exeter were only level for seven minutes before Stockport regained their lead.

If that flattened the mood for the visitors, Reading's goal did nothing to improve matters, as Kyerewaa reacted quickly to follow in from Wing's free-kick.

But Ng made sure of victory with an excellent left-footed strike, and the celebrations showed that Cardiff knew promotion was at that stage essentially guaranteed.

News then reached the away end of Exeter goalkeeper Bycroft's goal, prompting wild scenes among the Bluebirds supporters.

And once the final whistle blew, players and staff were able to stream on to the pitch, pop open the champagne and celebrate with their adoring fans.