2004 Football League First Division play-off final

West Ham United finished the regular 2003–04 season in fifth place in the Football League First Division, the second tier of the English football league system, two places and one point ahead of Crystal Palace. Both therefore missed out on the two automatic places for promotion to the Premier League and instead took part in the play-offs, along with Sunderland and Ipswich Town, to determine the third promoted team. West Ham finished twelve points behind West Bromwich Albion (who were promoted in second place) and twenty behind league winners Norwich City. Crystal Palace manager Iain Dowie had been appointed in December 2003 with the club in 19th position, before losing just six times in the final half of the season to finish sixth, a turnaround in form described by the BBC as "a remarkable transformation". Their qualification for the play-offs was secured in injury time of the final game of the season when West Ham's Brian Deane equalised against Wigan Athletic. The second leg took place at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland three days later. Although Palace's Aki Riihilahti hit the woodwork in the sixth minute, Kyle scored in the 42nd minute to level the tie on aggregate. Stewart scored with a header just before half-time to make it 4–3 to Sunderland before substitute Darren Powell's header made it 4–4 on aggregate and sent the semi-final to penalties. John Oster and Jason McAteer both missed penalties for Sunderland while Mart Poom saved twice, from Shaun Derry and Wayne Routledge. Jeff Whitley then failed to score and Michael Hughes struck the winning spot-kick. West Ham's play-off semi-final opponents were Ipswich Town, and the first leg took place at Portman Road in Ipswich on 15 May 2004. Ian Westlake's shot was cleared off the line by West Ham's Andy Melville in the first half, which ended goalless. Twelve minutes into the second half, Darren Bent scored with a header after Richard Naylor's initial shot rebounded off the crossbar, and the game ended 1–0. The return leg was played at the Boleyn Ground three days later. Bent missed an early chance to extend Ipswich's lead and Steve Lomas hit the post for West Ham, the first half ending goalless. In the 50th minute, Matthew Etherington scored from inside the Ipswich penalty area with a strike described by the BBC as a "screamer" to level the tie. ==Match==

Background This was Crystal Palace's fourth appearance in the second tier play-off final, with their most recent being in the 1997 final at the old Wembley Stadium which they won 1–0 against Sheffield United. Palace had also won the 1989 final (over two legs) against Blackburn Rovers and had lost the 1996 final in extra time against Leicester City. West Ham were making their first appearance in a second-tier playoff final. West Ham's top scorer was Marlon Harewood who had struck 25 goals during the regular league season, although 12 of them were for his previous club, Nottingham Forest, from whom he moved in November 2004. During the regular league season, both sides won at home in the matches between them: in October 2003, West Ham won 3–0 at Boleyn Park while six months later, Palace triumphed 1–0 at Selhurst Park. The referee for the match was Graham Poll representing the Hertfordshire County Football Association. Winning the final was estimated to be worth up to £30million to the successful team. Summary The match kicked off around 3p.m. in front of a Millennium Stadium crowd of 72,523 spectators. Details {{football box ==Post-match==

Winning manager Dowie was quick to praise his team: "The players have shown great commitment and desire. We showed today that we are a good football side and now we have to take on the superpowers". He was realistic about the forthcoming season, noting "we have got to come up with a format for keeping us in the Premier League; it is a huge ask". His counterpart Alan Pardew described it as a "dark day" for West Ham, suggesting: "all our fans, their dreams and ambitions for the club, have been ended and it hits your right between the eyes". Palace were relegated on the final day of the following season after a 2–2 draw with Charlton Athletic consigned them to 18th place in the table and assured their immediate return to the second tier. ==References==