Town boss Joe Royle says he hopes his Town side will emulate his Oldham team in beating West Ham in a two-legged semi-final. In 1990 the Latics beat the Hammers 6-0 in the first leg of a League Cup final, eventually going through 6-3 but losing to Manchester United in the final.

Royle says he will again be looking for goals aplenty: "It would be handy if we could do what I have done with another team against West Ham in a two-legged semi-final, though I doubt if it will be 6-0 again.

"It doesn't matter if it is 1-0 or 5-4 just as long as we go there with a lead and we come out on top again.

"We know we can score goals from anywhere in the side and although we did not play well against Cardiff I felt defensively we did do well.

"It was significant that of all six sides which were after a play-off place, none won. That shows the tension.

"That has gone now and the players can relax a little, though not too much. We only know the gung-ho way of playing but West Ham have quality strikers as well in Marlon Harewood, Bobby Zamora and David Connolly, with Brian Deane to come off the bench, so we will have to be wary of that."

Ticket sales for both legs of the play-off semi-final started yesterday and were extremely busy. Some fans reported queueing for three-to-four hours at the ground and others said they spent a similar length of time trying to get through by phone.

Away goals no longer count in play-off semi-finals or finals. Away goals no longer count in play-off semi-finals or finals. If the scores are level at the end of 90 minutes of the second leg extra-time will be played with no golden or silver goal rule. If the game is still drawn then there will be penalties. The same applies in the final.

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