Ipswich Town 1 - 0 West Ham United

Ipswich 1-0 West Ham

Updated: May 15, 2004, 9:32 AM ET

Darren Bent shrugged off the distraction of his midweek arrest to put Ipswich in pole position in their Division One play-off semi-final against West Ham with the matchwinner in a 1-0 first leg win at Portman Road.

The Ipswich striker scored his 16th goal of the season while out on bail over an alleged incident involving an air gun.

West Ham had weathered an early storm in the first half, when Andy Melville cleared Ian Westlake's shot off the goal-line with goalkeeper Stephen Bywater stranded in no-man's land.

• Royle praises 'Johnny-on-the-spot'

But the Hammers could not long resist the home side's combination of pace and power and Bent broke the deadlock after Richard Naylor hit the crossbar in the 57th minute to leave West Ham with work to do in the return leg on Tuesday.

The visitors were unbeaten in four games but they lacked the play-off experience of Ipswich, who have reached this stage of the season on five previous occasions and started well, with Tommy Miller firing wide from 25 yards out in the opening moments.

Ipswich were buzzing with invention and threat, and Tomas Repka did well to block Bent's effort from a Jim Magilton corner. Jermaine Wright and Westlake also had efforts go narrowly wide.

Marlon Harewood struck the side-netting in the 12th minute for West Ham after good link-up play between Connolly and Bobby Zamora, but it was all Ipswich, who had a shot from Magilton deflected wide off Andy Melville before Bywater was forced to save low from Bent.

When the visitors began to settle they looked dangerous, and they almost caught Ipswich out on a fast break out of defence in the 24th minute. Connolly carried the ball forward and fed Zamora, and his shot from 20 yards out beat the despairing dive of Ipswich keeper Kelvin Davis but went narrowly wide of the upright.

Bent then caused panic in the West Ham defence in the 29th minute by tempting Bywater well off his goalline and pulling the ball back to Westlake, but Melville cleared his resulting shot off the line.

Almost immediately Zamora hit an effort across the face of goal at the other end after being teed up by Connolly from Matthew Etherington's low centre.

But Wright hit the side-netting with a cracking volley from 25 yards from Magilton's corner in first-half stoppage-time to underline the home side's dominance.

Bent sent the ball over the crossbar for Ipswich following good work along the left touchline by Westlake after the break, but he did not have long to wait before breaking the deadlock.

Wright stormed into the penalty area to feed Naylor, whose shot rebounded back off the crossbar in the 57th minute. Repka failed to control it and ricocheted kindly for Bent, who nodded home from six yards.

Carrick forced a diving save from Davis with a curling free-kick with barely 10 minutes remaining, and substitute Jobi McAnuff then had a well-struck shot blocked as the Hammers regrouped.

The fightback was momentarily halted by the appearance on the pitch of a protester who had to be removed by stewards, but in reality West Ham had little left to offer the 4,500 travelling fans.

Royle praises 'Johnny-on-the-spot'

Ipswich Town manager Joe Royle admitted he was just about to substitute Darren Bent before the striker popped up to hit the matchwinner against West Ham in the first leg of their Division One play-off semi-final.

The Ipswich boss said: 'He was only just on the pitch. I was taking him off because he hadn't had a good game. But he's a real 'Johnny-on-the-spot' and I was glad he was there in the right place at the right time.'

Bent was forced to cope with the distraction of his arrest by police this week for an alleged incident involving an imitation firearm but, after being released without charge, he scored the goal which gave Ipswich the upper hand in the tie.

Royle had no qualms about thrusting him into the starting line-up against the Hammers, and his faith was rewarded with a live-wire display. The Ipswich chief said: 'I spoke to him and he was fine.'

Royle added: 'We didn't have too many scares and it was nice to say we defended well. It was probably the crowd's best game of the season as well. Ten out of 10.'

Midfielder Jim Magilton scored a hat-trick against Bolton at the semi-final stage the last time Ipswich won promotion to the Barclaycard Premiership four years ago and he insisted the Tractor Boys were good value for their victory.

Magilton said: 'We carried a threat today and deserved a goal but we're cautious and we know what will come at us on Tuesday night. We're only halfway there.'

Hammers manager Alan Pardew has lost out twice in recent play-off history and said: 'You have to make them favourites. The Ipswich fans created a fantastic environment and made it tough for us. But if you think that was a good atmosphere wait until you see Tuesday night.

'The place will be jumping and it will be a different type of game. The fans will be absolutely essential at Upton Park. We'll see how they cope in what will be a hostile stadium.'