Benevento head coach Marco Baroni is revelling in a feeling of “incredible joy” after guiding the club into Serie A at the first attempt.

On Thursday night the Stregoni – or ‘witches’ in English – secured a first-ever season in the top flight by beating Carpi 1-0 in the second leg of the Serie B play-off final.

Inter loanee George Puscas’ first-half goal was enough to clinch the aggregate success and with it back-to-back promotions. Benevento won their regional Lega Pro division in 2015-16.

Baroni, the former Lecce and Napoli defender, praised his players for their efforts across an unbeaten play-off campaign, which followed a fifth-placed finish in the league.

He told Ansa: “There is an incredible joy and we deserve it. It is a promotion which we wanted and tried hard to achieve, and the players are very comfortable in their minds and in their bodies.

“This is a team that, above all their other merits, have been supreme in that department all season.”

Club president Oreste Vigorito, who is a green energy entrepreneur, took over running the side when his brother Ciro, after whom Benevento’s 12,847-capacity Stadio Ciro Vigorito is named, died in 2010.

“I promised promotion and I said that we would try forever to achieve it,” he said.

“We chose a good coach and we were good at not getting carried away when we started playing the best football in Serie B.

“We’re going up to stay up, certainly not to go back down.

“We may not have players like (Juventus duo Gonzalo) Higuain and (Paulo) Dybala, but we have players with big hearts.”

Clemente Mastella, the mayor of Benevento, which sits upon a hill 100 kilometres north east of Naples, added: “This promotion represents another major incident of growth for the city.

“It is a vindication for Benevento who, after 87 years, will finally get to play in the top division.

“This is an important opportunity to raise awareness of our hidden treasures, our extraordinary history, artistry and monuments, increasing tourism and contributing to our GDP growth.”