MATTHEW Etherington has rubbed the salt into Ipswich wounds by insisting the Hammers stayed calm and relied on their football to get them to Cardiff, writes Derek Davis.

MATTHEW Etherington has rubbed the salt into Ipswich wounds by insisting the Hammers stayed calm and relied on their football to get them to Cardiff, writes Derek Davis.

The winger revealed that Ipswich boss Joe Royle and skipper Jim Magilton losing their cool played into their hands.

Royle had a go at West Ham boss Alan Pardew in the first leg and then Magilton had to be restrained by stewards after twice trying to get at West Ham's assistant manager Peter Grant.

Etheringon said: "There was some needle going on between the managers in the first leg but we decided not to get involved in that and let our football do the talking."

The former Spurs player was also determined to do well against Fabian Wilnis after reading reports on Sunday quoting the Dutchman.

He said: "Wilnis said a few things which I didn't really understand. I always seem to have my best games against Ipswich so again I let my football do the talking and it worked."

The Hammers go to a Cardiff play-off for the second year running after beating Ipswich in the semi-finals.