English League Division One play-off final/ Crystal Palace 1 West Ham Utd 0: English League Division One play-off finalCrystal Palace were promoted to the Premiership on Saturday after a 1-0 victory over London rivals West Ham at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.

Neil Shipperley, who returned for a second spell at Palace this season from Wimbledon, pounced after 62 minutes of a tense match when Andy Johnson's shot was parried by goalkeeper Stephen Bywater.

Fourth from bottom in December, Palace have been transformed since Iain Dowie, a former West Ham player, took charge.

However, they were only assured a spot in the play-offs because of a last-minute West Ham equaliser at Wigan Athletic on the final day of the season - a goal that came back to haunt the debt-laden Hammers.

With £25 million the estimated windfall for reaching the English top flight, the match was fraught with nerves, both on and off the pitch.

Palace seemed less affected by the tension and carved out the better chances. Johnson wasted a free header in the 13th minute while Michael Hughes had a shot cleared off the line by Tomas Repka. Bobby Zamora had West Ham's best effort in the first half, forcing a sharp save from Nico Vaesen.

But it was Shipperley, part of the last Palace team to win promotion to the premier league in 1997, who was on hand to settle the issue.

Johnson, worked some space on the edge of the area to fire in a low cross shot that Bywater could not hold and Shipperley prodded the ball home.

CRYSTAL PALACE: Vaesen, Butterfield (Powell 69), Popovic, Leigertwood, Granville, Routledge, Riihilahti, Derry, Hughes, Shipperley, Johnson. Subs not used: Freedman, Berthelin, Black, Watson. Booked: Derry, Hughes, Routledge. Goal: Shipperley 62.

WEST HAM UTD: Bywater, Repka, Dailly, Melville, Mullins, Harewood (Reo-Coker 68), Carrick, Lomas, Etherington, Zamora (Deane 68), Connolly (Hutchison 74). Subs not used: Srnicek, Brevett. Booked: Repka, Reo-Coker, Mullins, Etherington.

Referee: G Poll (Hertfordshire).