West Ham have returned to the Premiership after a two year absence by beating Preston North End 1-0 in the Championship play-off at the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff today.
Bobby Zamora's second half strike was enough for West Ham to win the world's richest club match. Victory for the Hammers is worth an estimated £35million.
Zamora steered Matthew Etherington's precise cross into the bottom right-hand corner of the net to fire the London club into the top flight.
It was no more than the Hammers deserved for a professional, yet creative, performance against a Preston side who rarely troubled West Ham's goal all afternoon.
Preston boss Billy Davies will rue the fact that his side rarely played as well as they can, and Marlon Harewood, Zamora and Etherington all missed chances to make it more convincing for the Hammers, while Tomas Repka hit the post early on.
And praise must be given to Elliott Ward, who was outstanding at the back for West Ham.
The Hammers got off to the brighter start and Repka almost put them in front in the fifth minute when he ran on to a through ball from the middle by Shaun Newton but shot against the near post.
Six minutes later the Londoners had what looked like a legitimate claim for a penalty waved away after Zamora was brought down by Youl Mawene.
Preston's Carlo Nash then turned Etherington's stinging shot from a Zamora pass over his bar for a corner in the 21st minute as the Hammer turned up the pressure.
The second half got off to an exciting start with Newton heading a Richard Cresswell header from a corner off the West Ham line in the 49th to deny Preston their best chance so far.
Two minutes later West Ham missed three chances in as many seconds when Nash palmed away Marlon Harewood's point-blank shot, Mawene then booted Zamora's follow-up effort off the line before the Preston keeper stopped Harewood's goal attempt.
West Ham's goal was not long coming though, with Zamora, whose two goals at Ipswich Town in the second leg of the semi-final had put them in the final, involved in the build-up.
He passed the ball to Etherington out on the left before the tricky winger sent a precise cross back into the middle for the striker Zamora to slot calmly past a diving Nash.
With Preston's most famous player, the 83-year-old club chairman and former England striker Sir Tom Finney, watching from the stands North End responded defiantly. David Nugent shot straight at West Ham goalkeeper Jimmy Walker and Cresswell was just wide with another effort as Preston tried to find a way back into the match.
Walker twisted his knee coming out to the edge of the box to catch a high ball five minutes from time, earning a booking for handball, and was replaced by Stephen Bywater, who immediately saved Paul McKenna's low free kick as West Ham held on to win on of the most important games in their history.
