2005 Football League Championship play-off final

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2005 Football League Championship play-off final
Principality Stadium May 3, 2016.jpg
The match was played at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.
Date30 May 2005
Venue Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Referee Mike Riley
Attendance70,275
2004
2006

The 2005 Football League Championship play-off final was an association football match which was played on 30 May 2005 at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, between Preston North End and West Ham United. The match was to determine the third and final team to gain promotion from the Football League Championship, the second tier of English football, to the FA Premier League. The top two teams of the 2004–05 Football League Championship season gained automatic promotion to the Premier League, while the clubs placed from third to sixth place in the table took part in play-off semi-finals; Preston ended the season in fifth position while West Ham finished sixth. The winners of these semi-finals competed for the final place for the 2005–06 season in the Premier League. Ipswich Town and Derby County were the losing semi-finalists. Winning the final was estimated to be worth up to £31 million to the successful team.

Contents

The 2005 final was refereed by Mike Riley and was watched by a crowd of 70,275. West Ham won the match 1–0 with the only goal of the game coming from Bobby Zamora in the second half, and were promoted back to the Premier League after an absence of two years. His teammate Matthew Etherington was named man of the match.

West Ham finished their following season in ninth place in the Premier League. Preston's next season saw them finish in fourth place in the Championship, and qualify for the play-offs, where they lost 3–1 on aggregate to Leeds United in the semi-final.

Route to the final

Football League Championship final table, leading positions [1]
PosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPts
1 Sunderland 46297107641+3594
2 Wigan Athletic 46251297935+4487
3 Ipswich Town 46241398556+2985
4 Derby County 462210147160+1176
5 Preston North End 462112136758+975
6 West Ham United 462110156656+1073

Preston North End finished the regular 2004–05 season in fifth place in the Football League Championship, the second tier of the English football league system, one place and two points ahead of West Ham United. 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 Ipswich Town and Derby County, to determine the third promoted team. Preston finished twelve points behind Wigan Athletic (who were promoted in second place) and nineteen behind league winners Sunderland. [1]

West Ham United faced Ipswich Town in their play-off semi-final, with the first leg taking place at the Boleyn Ground in East London on 14 May 2005. The home team opened the scoring early in the first half as a cross from Matthew Etherington was converted from 5 yards (4.6 m) by Marlon Harewood. They doubled their lead six minutes later when, once again, Etherington crossed the ball and this time it was Bobby Zamora's strike which beat Kelvin Davis in the Ipswich goal. Just before half-time, the visitors halved the deficit when West Ham's goalkeeper Jimmy Walker conceded an own goal. Shefki Kuqi then equalised from close range following a defensive mix-up between Walker and Anton Ferdinand and match ended level on 2–2. [2] The return leg was played at Portman Road in Ipswich four days later. After a goalless first half, Zamora scored twice in eleven minutes: the first was a close-range header from a Harewood cross while the second saw Zamora volley Harewood's pass into the Ipswich goal. West Ham won the match 2–0 and the semi-final 4–2 on aggregate to progress to the final. [3]

In the other play-off semi-final, Preston North End's opponents were Derby County, the first leg being played at Deepdale in Preston on 15 May 2005. The home side were dominant in the first half and took the lead in the 38th minute when David Nugent beat Lee Camp in the Derby goal after picking up a flicked pass from Chris Sedgwick. Although Derby improved after the break, Preston doubled their lead in the final minute of the match. A defensive header deflected off Richard Cresswell past Camp to make the final score 2–0 to the home side. [4] The second leg was played at Pride Park Stadium in Derby four days later. After a goalless first half, Grzegorz Rasiak won a penalty when he was brought down by Chris Lucketti in the penalty area. Rasiak himself took the spot kick but struck the post, and the game ended 0–0, with Preston qualifying for the final with a 2–0 aggregate victory. [5]

Match

Background

Preston were making their second appearance in a Championship play-off final, having lost in the 2001 final 3–0 against Bolton Wanderers. [6] Preston had also featured in the 1994 Football League Third Division play-off final at the old Wembley Stadium where they lost 4–2 against Wycombe Wanderers. [7] West Ham were losing finalists the previous season when they were beaten 1–0 by Crystal Palace. [6] During the regular season, Preston had won both league encounters between the two clubs. They secured a 2–1 victory at Deepdale in December 2004 and won by the same scoreline at the Boleyn Ground the following March. [8] During that match, Tomáš Řepka was sent off for headbutting Brian O'Neil in his right eye and a mass brawl ensued in the tunnel after the final whistle. [9] [10] Cresswell was the highest scorer for Preston throughout the season with 16 goals, while West Ham's top marksman was Teddy Sheringham who had 20 followed by Harewood with 17. [11] Preston had played in the second tier of English football since gaining promotion in the 1999–2000 season as champions of the Football League Second Division, and had not taken part in the top tier for 44 years. [12] [13] Conversely, West Ham had played in the Championship for two seasons since being relegated from the Premiership in the 2002–03 season. [14] Winning the play-off final was estimated in the media to be worth up to £35 million to the successful team; [15] [16] [17] [18] CNN described the game as "the world's richest club match". [18] The referee for the match was Mike Riley who represented the West Riding County Football Association. [13]

The West Ham manager Alan Pardew opted for a 4–4–2 formation, with Shaun Newton replacing Carl Fletcher in right midfield. [15] Newton had been successful in the playoff finals on two previous occasions, winning with Charlton Athletic in the 1998 final and with Wolverhampton Wanderers in the 2003 final. [19] Billy Davies, the Preston manager named an unchanged side from that which secured the goalless draw in the play-off semi-final, despite Graham Alexander having recovered from injury. [15]

Summary

Bobby Zamora scored the only goal of the game. Bobby zamora.jpg
Bobby Zamora scored the only goal of the game.

The game kicked off around 3 p.m. in front of a Millennium Stadium crowd of 70,275 spectators. After four minutes, Newton played a pass to Řepka whose shot struck the Preston goalpost. Walker's clearance then found Harewood who passed to Zamora. He found Etherington who took the ball into the Preston penalty area before seeing his shot palmed away by Carlo Nash. With West Ham defending in numbers, Preston were forced to derive chances to score from set pieces, with Lucketti's header from Eddie Lewis' corner being saved by Walker. Five minutes before the break, Nugent ran onto a long ball into the West Ham penalty area, but was tackled by Řepka. Just before half time, Zamora took advantage of poor defending from Claude Davis but the defender made a last-ditch tackle, and the half ended goalless. [13] [20] [21]

Neither side made any changes during half time, and four minutes into the second half, a Paul McKenna corner headed toward the West Ham goal by Cresswell but Newton cleared the ball. Nigel Reo-Coker then passed to Harewood whose shot was pushed away one-handed by Nash. Zamora followed up but his attempt was cleared by Youl Mawéné and the second rebound was struck straight at Nash who gathered it. In the 57th minute Zamora sent a looping ball to Etherington down the left wing who beat Mawene. Davis slipped, allowing Etherington to cross for Zamora to score from 6 yards (5.5 m), his fourth goal in three play-off games, and put West Ham 1–0 ahead. There minutes later he had a chance to double his tally but headed an Etherington free kick over the Preston crossbar. Nugent then went on a run, beating four West Ham defenders before striking his shot straight at Walker. Davies then brought on Patrick Agyemang for Sedgwick, to play with three strikers. Zamora was then substituted by Pardew and replaced him with Christian Dailly in a holding midfield role. With three minutes remaining, Walker sprinted out to claim a high ball and took the ball out of his area, falling and twisting his right knee. He was booked and stretchered off and replaced by Stephen Bywater. His first action was to save the resulting Alexander free kick. Seven minutes of injury time were played before the match ended 1–0 to West Ham. [13] [20] [21]

Details

Preston North End 0–1 West Ham United
Report Zamora Soccerball shade.svg57'
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Attendance: 70,275
Referee: Mike Riley (West Yorkshire)
Kit left arm.svg
Kit body.svg
Kit right arm.svg
Kit shorts.svg
Kit socks long.svg
Preston North End
Kit left arm.svg
Kit body.svg
Kit right arm.svg
Kit shorts.svg
Kit socks long.svg
West Ham United
GK33 Flag of England.svg Carlo Nash
RB15 Flag of France.svg Youl Mawéné Yellow card.svgSub off.svg 87'
CB22 Flag of Jamaica.svg Claude Davis
CB20 Flag of England.svg Chris Lucketti
LB18 Flag of England.svg Matt Hill Yellow card.svg
RM11 Flag of England.svg Chris Sedgwick Sub off.svg 71'
CM16 Flag of England.svg Paul McKenna
CM3 Flag of Scotland.svg Brian O'Neil Sub off.svg 81'
LM17 Flag of the United States.svg Eddie Lewis
FW25 Flag of England.svg Richard Cresswell
CF35 Flag of England.svg David Nugent
Substitutes:
GK12 Flag of England.svg Gavin Ward
DF2 Flag of Scotland.svg Graham Alexander Sub on.svg 87'
DF6 Flag of England.svg Marlon Broomes
MF4 Flag of Nigeria.svg Dickson Etuhu Sub on.svg 82'
FW9 Flag of Ghana.svg Patrick Agyemang Sub on.svg 71'
Manager:
Flag of Scotland.svg Billy Davies
GK23 Flag of England.svg Jimmy Walker Yellow card.svgSub off.svg 87'
RB2 Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Tomáš Řepka
CB15 Flag of England.svg Anton Ferdinand
CB22 Flag of England.svg Elliott Ward
LB34 Flag of England.svg Chris Powell
RM26 Flag of England.svg Shaun Newton Sub off.svg 82'
CM20 Flag of England.svg Nigel Reo-Coker
CM17 Flag of England.svg Hayden Mullins Yellow card.svg
LM12 Flag of England.svg Matthew Etherington
CF10 Flag of England.svg Marlon Harewood
CF25 Flag of England.svg Bobby Zamora Sub off.svg 74'
Substitutes:
GK1 Flag of England.svg Stephen Bywater Sub on.svg 87'
DF7 Flag of Scotland.svg Christian Dailly Sub on.svg 74'
MF24 Flag of England.svg Mark Noble Sub on.svg 82'
MF6 Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg Carl Fletcher
FW8 Flag of England.svg Teddy Sheringham
Manager:
Flag of England.svg Alan Pardew
West Ham players celebrating the play-off final victory Playofffinal20042005.jpg
West Ham players celebrating the play-off final victory
Statistics [15]
West Ham UnitedPreston North End
Total shots108
Shots on target55
Ball possession50%50%
Corner kicks25
Fouls committed1914
Offsides31
Yellow cards22
Red cards00

Post-match

Pardew commended his players: "It's a team effort. We defended well and we're back where we belong ... We're back in the Premiership, we'll do it justice and this lot will work hard next year". [22] Chris Powell noted: "We've been fighting against all the critics, our gaffer has been under pressure but we stood firm. We've put this club back where it belongs, but we had to work hard". [21] Davies, the losing manager, was proud of his team and said: "I can ask no more of the players. We have to be very proud of our season, we've learnt a lot ... this is football, we have to learn from the mistakes we've made." [21] He conceded: "We didn't play particularly well on the day, but we had one or two chances and the first goal was crucial". [23] West Ham's Etherington was named as man of the match. [21]

West Ham finished their following season in ninth place in the Premier League. [24] Preston's next season saw them finish in fourth place in the Championship, [25] and qualify for the play-offs, where they lost 3–1 on aggregate to Leeds United in the semi-final. [26]

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