West Ham United 2 - 0 Ipswich Town
West Ham 2-0 Ipswich
| Scoring Summary | |
| West Ham United | Ipswich Town |
| Matthew Etherington (50) | |
| Christian Dailly (71) | |
| Match Stats | ||
| West Ham United | Ipswich Town | |
| Shots (on Goal) | 13(5) | 8(2) |
| Fouls | 11 | 7 |
| Corner Kicks | 9 | 12 |
| Offsides | 2 | 4 |
| Time of Possession | 44% | 56% |
| Yellow Cards | 0 | 1 |
| Red Cards | 0 | 0 |
| Saves | 4 | 4 |
| Match Information |
|
Stadium:
Upton Park, England
Attendance: 34,002 Match Time: 14:45 ET Official(s): N Barry (Referee) |
| Teams | |
| West Ham United | Ipswich Town |
| 32 Stephen Bywater | 1 Kelvin Davis |
| 17 Hayden Mullins | 6 Matt Elliott |
| 7 Christian Dailly | 2 Fabian Wilnis |
| 22 Andrew Melville | 14 Matthew Richards |
| 2 Tomas Repka | 11 Jermaine Wright |
| 11 Steve Lomas | 8 Tommy Miller |
| 6 Michael Carrick | 7 Jim Magilton |
| 12 Matthew Etherington | 33 Ian Westlake |
| 10 Marlon Harewood | 32 Shefki Kuqi |
| 8 David Connolly | 12 Richard Naylor |
| 25 Bobby Zamora | 18 Darren Bent |
| Substitutes | |
| 30 Pavel Srnicek | Lewis Price 34 |
| 3 Rufus Brevett | Drissa Diallo 5 |
| 20 Nigel Reo-Coker | Georges Santos 15 |
| 26 Jobi McAnuff | Martijn Reuser 30 |
| 29 Brian Deane | Alun Armstrong 10 |
| Substitutions | |
| Brian Deane for Bobby Zamora (57) | Alun Armstrong for Shefki Kuqi (45) |
| Nigel Reo-Coker for David Connolly (82) | Martijn Reuser for Jim Magilton (72) |
| Yellow Cards | |
| Fabian Wilnis (34) | |
| · Club Rosters: West Ham United | Ipswich Town | |
Updated: May 18, 2004, 5:01 PM ET
West Ham win 2-1 on aggregate.Final v Crystal Palace, Sat. May 29
Christian Dailly fired West Ham to within 90 minutes of an instant return to the Barclaycard Premiership with the clinching goal in a 2-0 victory against Ipswich Town at Upton Park.
The Hammers defender was the unlikely hero after Matthew Etherington had wiped out Ipswich's slender one-goal lead from the first leg of their Nationwide Division One play-off semi-final with a stunning strike.
Darren Bent had given the Tractor Boys the advantage at Portman Road, but his side could not hold on as West Ham laid siege to their goal on a wild night in east London.
Visiting goalkeeper Kelvin Davis was inspired to deny Bobby Zamora and Dailly in the first half, while Steve Lomas hit the crossbar, but he could do nothing to stop a second-half onslaught which took the Hammers to the Millennium Stadium.
Ipswich almost forced extra-time when Ian Westlake struck the woodwork in stoppage time, but it was the home side who progressed to the play-off final, where they will face London rivals Crystal Palace.
Ipswich almost scored within the first three minutes, Bent latching on to a lofted through ball from Jim Magilton only to drag his shot just wide of the far post.
The Hammers quickly struck back through Lomas, who met Etherington's sixth-minute cross first time and struck a sweet volley off the crossbar. Davis then pulled off a stunning point-blank save to deny Zamora, whose header from David Connolly's cut-back was goal-bound.
Dailly drew another fine diving save from Davis with a rasping shot from 25 yards out which was always curling away from the Ipswich `keeper. The visitors were struggling to stem the tide, with Zamora heading inches wide from Etherington's cross.
Town defender Fabian Wilnis resorted to hand ball as his side clung on, and was booked for his trouble by referee Neale Barry, but Michael Carrick wasted the resulting free-kick.
Bent put a half-chance over the crossbar at full-stretch after a Magilton free-kick at the other end just before the break, but the home side were making all the running.
Marlon Harewood cut in to fire a shot goalwards which Davis collected easily, but the 34,002 crowd raised the roof when Etherington broke the deadlock with a magical effort. The former Tottenham winger collected a short corner from Carrick before advancing to blast a left-foot shot into the top corner from just inside the 18-yard box. Etherington's sixth goal of the season levelled the aggregate score in the tie and gave the Hammers the momentum, but they were statuesque when Westlake was given time and space to flash a cross right across the face of the home goal shortly afterwards.
On came experienced striker Brian Deane for the fading Zamora, but his acrobatic flick was wasted by Connolly, who mis-hit his shot high and wide with the goal at his mercy. Harewood put Connolly clean through again after a storming run but the Republic of Ireland striker's deft chip was just too high. The Hammers finally went ahead for the first time in the tie when Dailly struck home at a Carrick corner with 20 minutes to go. Carrick's centre hit Richard Naylor before falling to Dailly, who hurt his right knee before firing in a shot left-footed off Tommy Miller into the bottom corner. Ipswich threw on play-off veteran Martijn Reuser, but their fightback lacked belief until added time, when Westlake struck a stinging effort from 25 yards off the angle of post and crossbar. He said: 'To get a performance like that you need everyody's levels to rise
and only the atmosphere could create that. 'I knew it was going to be like this and it was a magical evening. The
players responded to the fans and that's how it is at big clubs, you feed off of
each other. 'The key to any big club is its fans. They've been our lifeblood with their
loyalty and they've been rewarded. 'Some of them will be disappointed for the final but hopefully we can get as
many tickets as possible for Cardiff and make it a great day out.' Pardew sported a "Moore than a football team" T-shirt for the game,
recalling legendary Hammers defender and England World Cup-winning captain Bobby
Moore. And he even employed a horn player reminiscent of the Leyton Silver Band which
used to play before matches in the 1960s and 70s to call his side out for the
kick-off.
The Hammers were relegated last summer with debts in excess of #40million but
Pardew's side are now on the brink of putting a difficult season behind them. He said: 'It's an emotional evening and it's been a tiring, draining night.
The players and staff are shattered. But there's a big game to come and I've
tasted defeat in the play-off final. There's no worse thing than that.'
Ipswich almost forced extra time when Ian Westlake hit the woodwork at the end
of normal time. But manager Joe Royle said: 'Half our team froze out there. Our heroes were
the defenders. We didn't look anything like our best. 'Perhaps we could have scored a last-minute goal but it's all ifs and buts
and it's irrelevenat now. 'West Ham had six #1million-plus players and I couldn't argue with the
result. We didn't play anything like we can. We were a shadow of our best. 'But we're a collection of raw lads. I don't know who's going to win the
final and I couldn't care less.'
Tuesday, May 18, 2004
| West Ham United | 2 | |
| Ipswich Town | 0 | FT |
