Hammers back in the Premiership after win

Preston 0 West Ham 1

West Ham are back in the Premiership after Bobby Zamora’s second-half strike earned his side a 1-0 win over Preston in the Coca-Cola Championship play-off final at the Millennium Stadium.

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 following a two-year absence.

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.