West Ham are 90 minutes away from a return to the Barclays Premier League after sweeping aside Cardiff in their play-off semi-final.

The Hammers quickly shrugged off the disappointment of missing out on automatic promotion – they were beaten into second place by Saints - as goals from Kevin Nolan, Ricardo Vaz Te and Nicky Maynard booked them a trip to Wembley for the first time in 31 years.

One year on from relegation, they will now face either Blackpool or Birmingham on May 19 for a shot at returning to the top flight and the estimated £90million reward promotion brings.

As for Cardiff, they began the season with victory at Upton Park but ended it suffering play-off heartache for the third successive year.

Malky Mackay's side arrived in east London as huge underdogs, trailing 2-0 from the first leg in Wales last week.

Both teams knew the importance of an early goal, Cardiff to haul themselves back into the tie and West Ham to kill it off.

And the visitors did pose a brief threat, having a half-hearted penalty appeal turned down when Kenny Miller tumbled under Winston Reid's challenge.

But it was West Ham who struck the crucial first blow from Matt Taylor's 15th-minute corner.

Carlton Cole's close-range header was blocked by Cardiff skipper Mark Hudson but Nolan was on hand to nod the rebound over the line for his 13th goal of the season.