Allardyce delight at finishing

Sam Allardyce: Admits Blackpool were West Ham's equals but was grateful his side took the chances

Sam Allardyce hailed his team's superior finishing as West Ham beat Blackpool 2-1 to secure a return to the Premier League.

Ricardo Vaz Te's late winner after Thomas Ince had cancelled out Carlton Cole's opener, gave the Hammers victory in the Championship play-off final at Wembley on Saturday.

And Allardyce, who had been under pressure to deliver promotion all season, could scarcely hide his relief after the dramatic winner.

He told Sky Sports: "Blackpool were equally as good as us today. But, our finishing power in the end, it's about taking your chances.

"No more so than in a game like today. There were lots of chances for both teams and we've managed to swing it just at the death.

"Funnily enough it's 49 games and it's the first time we've won a game in the last few minutes all season.

"David Sullivan was always on at me saying 'why do we never win a game in the last few minutes' and we've won one so I'm sure him and David Gold will be very, very happy.

"And as you can see from all the fans here, we're just delighted to be back in the Barclays Premier League.

Magnificent

"Full credit to the players and full credit to Blackpool because for a play-off with all the nerves that there have been I thought it was a magnificent game - end-to-end and in the end we got one more goal than Blackpool."

Allardyce had not always found it easy at Upton Park with fans less than happy about the team's style of play.

He also had to overcome the disappointment of missing out on automatic promotion to Southampton on the final day, but ultimately the former Bolton boss has delivered promotion at the first attempt.

The 57-year-old added: "It's everything to me because I've been in the Premier League for 10 years or so and I wanted to come and experience a successful season.

"It was very difficult at the start to turn the club around with the relegation problem that we've had, but we've turned it around we came good right at the very end.

"I'll look forward to the celebrations first before I start worrying about the Premier League next year. A good rest for everybody and obviously we're delighted how much it means to everybody at West Ham.

"We've got what we wanted. We're going up."