Town face another season of First Division football after losing the second leg of their play-off semi-final against West Ham 2-0 and 2-1 overall. The Blues defended staunchly for 50 minutes but then goals from Matthew Etherington and Christian Dailly saw the Hammers to a Cardiff play-off final.

As expected Town lined-up without John McGreal, Richard Naylor moving into the defence and Shefki Kuqi taking over up front.

Despite the Hammers starting brightly, the Blues had the first serious chance of the game when Darren Bent was played through beyond the defence. However, the youngster screwed his shot just wide of Bywater's goal.

Former Town loanee Marlon Harewood went over from the edge of the box before Steve Lomas came inches from putting the home side ahead on the night. Etherington crossed from the left and Lomas hit a first-time shot which skimmed the top of Kelvin Davis's crossbar.

Davis kept Town ahead in the 11th minute with a brilliant save. Connolly had crossed from the right and Bobby Zamora headed to the keeper's left, Davis getting across his goal to turn it round the post at the last.

Three minutes later Davis looked less assured when dealing with a Naylor pass-back. The keeper first tried to take the ball past Harewood but then settled for back-heeling it out for a corner.

The Town stopper redeemed himself this error on 20 when he did well to get to his right to push Christian Dailly's 30-yarder round the post. Soon after, Zamora headed a Connolly cross wide.

The Hammers had been unlucky not to be ahead after a furious first 20 minutes in which, the Bent chance aside, Town had created very little.

But as the half wore on the Blues came more into it. On 24 Jermaine Wright struck a volley from the edge of the area which Stephen Bywater saved. Three minutes later a Bent cross-shot gave the stopper more trouble, Bywater fumbling but no Blues player was on-hand to take advantage.

With Town by now in the ascendant, the home crowd were largely silent. The Blues passed the ball around in the latter stages but without ever really offering a threat. Nine minutes before the break Fabian Wilnis picked up a yellow card for handball.

Town switched the anonymous Shefki Kuqi for Alun Armstrong at the break. The Blues appeared to have weathered the storm and in some ways the interval came at the wrong time for them.

Before the second half had time to settle into a pattern, the home side were ahead. A corner on the right was taken short to the unmarked Etherington at the corner of the penalty area, the former Spurs man lashing a 25-yard shot into the top corner of the net, with Ian Westlake arriving too late with his challenge.

Town now had to play with a more attacking approach than they had up to then, but still did little to threaten Bywater's goal.

David Connolly ought to have scored the Hammers' second in the 64th minute when he latched on to a Brian Deane knock-down but he belted the ball high and wide. Two minutes later the Irishman was similarly profligate when Harewood played him in, the former Wimbledon man again wildly shooting high and wide.

In the 68th minute Darren Bent broke away on the right and sent a shot across the face of Bywater's goal.

West Ham went two-up on the night in the 70th minute. A corner from the Hammers' left wasn't cleared and Christian Dailly was allowed time to scrape a low shot into the corner of Kelvin Davis's net.

Immediately, Joe Royle replaced Jim Magilton with Martijn Reuser, Ian Westlake taking on a more central role.

The Dutchman had a chance with a trademark freekick in the 76th minute after Westlake had been fouled, but his shot struck the wall. From the corner Richard Naylor headed wide.

The Blues pressed forward in numbers in the late stages with Matt Elliott joining the attack and Town switching to a back three. On 85 Bent narrowly failed to get on the end of a Matt Richards cross, Alun Armstrong harmlessly crossing back into the keeper's arms.

The injury-time board had just gone up when Town came as close to a goal as they would on the night. Fabian Wilnis sent a long throw into the box, it was half-cleared to Ian Westlake whose shot struck the cross-bar.

Town had a decent shout for a penalty as time ran out, Matt Elliott appearing to be hauled down by two defenders as a corner came over from the left. Referee Neale Barry, as often on the night, judged against the Blues. By this stage Kelvin Davis was coming up for corners.

After three minutes added time, referee Neale Barry signalled the end of Town's season. The Blues had rarely looked like getting anything out of the game once the home side had gone in front despite keeping themselves in front for the first 50 minutes.

Town had started to play a more dominant role in the game just prior to the break but the goal so soon after half-time forced them into a rethink and a return to their more natural game.

However, with West Ham in a confident mood after the first and then second goals — as so often this season both from set-pieces - it was always going to be a struggle for the Blues to impose themselves on the game, although in the end they were unlucky not to have got on terms.

A season which will hardly go down as a classic but one which sporadically rose to heights, although all too often inconsistencies — particularly at the back — made watching Town a frustrating business.

Town: Davis, Wilnis, Richards, Elliott, Naylor, Magilton (Reuser 70), Miller, Wright, Westlake, Bent, Kuqi (Armstrong 46)

Photo: Action Images

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