The Eagles faced Sunderland in the play-off semi-finals, and won the first-leg 3-2 at Selhurst Park. The second-leg came three days later at the Stadium of Light and the Black Cats levelled the scores on aggregate.
The game went to penalties and Palace skipper Michael Hughes scored the decisive winning effort to send the Eagles to the Millennium stadium.
The final was a cagey affair, though Neil Shipperley found the breakthrough just after the hour-mark after pouncing on an Andrew Johnson shot that was spilled by Stephen Bywater in the West Ham goal.
In typical Palace fashion, the team didn’t make it easy for themselves and West Ham pushed on to see goals from Bobby Zamora and David Connolly disallowed for offside.