A long-range shot from Tom Ince ricocheted off Birmingham defender Curtis Davies past Colin Doyle late in the first half.

[3] In the return leg, played five days later at St Andrew's, Stephen Dobbie extended Blackpool's aggregate lead on the stroke of half time.

Davies reduced Birmingham's deficit to a single goal but the match ended without further scoring, and Blackpool qualified for the final 3–2 on aggregate.

[5] Goals from West Ham captain Kevin Nolan, Ricardo Vaz Tê and Nicky Maynard secured a 3–0 victory and an aggregate 5–0 win, and qualified the club for their first appearance at Wembley since the 1981 Football League Cup Final.

[8] During the regular season, West Ham dominated Blackpool, winning 4–0 at the Boleyn Ground in October 2011, and 4–1 at Bloomfield Road the following February.

[10] West Ham's Vaz Tê was the division's top scorer, with 22 goals to his name, including 10 while he was at Barnsley earlier in the season.

[13] During Blackpool's regular season, he had contributed ten assists and eight goals;[14][15] Phillips started in his place, and Czech striker Roman Bednář was named amongst the substitutes.

[18] Almost immediately, the first chance fell to West Ham's Carlton Cole but Nolan's pass was too long and was picked up by the Blackpool goalkeeper Matt Gilks.

Cole lost the ball near the half-way line and a Matt Phillips pass over Winston Reid fell to Ince whose first-time strike beat Green in the West Ham goal.

In the 66th minutes, Dobbie's shot from the centre of the penalty area went wide, before Noble made a goal-line clearance to Baptiste, who struck the ball over the bar.

Four minutes of injury time followed but with no change to the score, and West Ham were promoted back to the Premier League, one season after they were relegated.

[16][17] Man of the Match: James Tomkins (West Ham United)[19] Assistant referees: Peter Kirkup Mike Mullarkey Fourth official: Kevin Friend Match rules: The West Ham manager Sam Allardyce said: "I told you it was going to be difficult ... Blackpool were equally as good as us today but it's about taking your chances and never more so than on a day like today.

[19] West Ham ended the next season in mid-table in the Premier League, in tenth place and ten points clear of the relegation zone.