Timing is everything in the mad rush of the play-offs and although Crystal Palace had not looked like promotion candidates for most of the season, their impressive revival under Iain Dowie proved enough to take them all the way to the Premiership.
West Ham must have had a sneaking feeling it might, since Palace were in Cardiff in the first place only courtesy of Brian Deane's last-minute equalizer away to Wigan this month in the last match of the regular season. Had Wigan won that game, Palace would not have made the play-off cut and West Ham would have been rewarded with two more games against Paul Jewell's team.
Dowie, who took over as Palace manager in December, when the team were 19th in the table, had said he needed to win this game or risk losing his best players to bigger clubs.
In another irony the winning goal was scored by veteran captain Neil Shipperley, one of the few players who has not recently been attracting the attention of Premiership scouts.
The decisive moment arrived just after the hour. West Ham inexplicably stood off Andy Johnson until he was within shooting distance, then still seemed surprised by his shot. Although there was no real power in the low drive, it was well placed and Stephen Bywater could only push the ball out to Shipperley, who might be a few kilos above his fighting weight these days and need a few more feet in which to turn, but he is not in the habit of refusing gifts from two yards out.
Meanwhile, Brighton bounced straight back into the English first division with a 1-0 victory over Bristol City in the second division playoff final at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on Sunday.
A Leon Knight penalty seven minutes from time was enough for them to return to England's second flight, from which they were relegated last year.
After 83 minutes of deadlock, City defender Daniel Coles clearly brought down Brighton striker Chris Iwelumo and Knight, who had scored 26 goals in all competitions this season before Sunday, calmly put the ball past Steve Phillips.
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