Rciardo Vaz Te ‘blessed’ by second chance at West Ham

WEST Ham’s Wembley matchwinner Ricardo Vaz Te is determined to make the most of his second chance.The Portuguese winger was on the football scrapheap two years ago after being released by Bolton following three injury-hit seasons.

The 25-year-old had unhappy spells with Panionios in Greece and SPL side Hibernian – where he cut a forlorn figure at the end of last season as the Easter Road team slumped to five successive bottom-six losses under Colin Calderwood – before pitching up in Barnsley, from where Hammers boss Sam Allardyce plucked him in January.

And that £500,000 punt looks like a bargain after Vaz Te’s dramatic late play-off final winner sank Blackpool 2-1 and earned West Ham the estimated £90million that promotion to the Barclays Premier League brings.

“I feel I have been blessed with a second chance in my career and I’m cherishing it,” said Vaz Te. “The Premier League is another big step, a challenge. We must go there with the mentality that we are a Premier League side, not fighting against relegation. We are going to go there and give it our best.”

The Hammers were pre- season favourites for automatic promotion but missed out on the final day of the campaign to Reading and Southampton, and had to go up the hard way.

Carlton Cole fired them ahead in the first half and Thomas Ince, son of former Hammer Paul, dragged Blackpool level just after the interval.

But Vaz Te struck with three minutes remaining when he tucked away the rebound after Cole’s effort was blocked to ensure West Ham bounced back from last season’s relegation at the first attempt. Mark Noble was the sole survivor from the last Hammers squad to make it through the play-offs at the Millennium Stadium seven years ago. And the homegrown midfielder lapped up his side’s first Wembley triumph since Trevor Brooking’s header secured an FA Cup win over Arsenal in 1980.

“This is very special,” he said. “We put the fans through it and we put ourselves through it, but it’s all worth it. We wanted to go up automatically but it’s not as good as this. The play-offs are horrible if you don’t win, but that was one of the best days of my life. It’s a fantastic time to be a West Ham player.

“You play against the best players in the Premier League, in the best arenas and it’s the best place to be. I’ve played 90 per cent of my football there and was desperate to get back.”

Skipper Kevin Nolan made it a promotion hat-trick having previously helped Bolton and Newcastle to the top flight in his career. He said: “It was a tough day but we stuck in there, kept on going and snatched it in the end. We’ve been favourites from day one, we said we wanted to win it or get automatic promotion but this was plan B, and thankfully we won.”

As Blackpool licked their wounds, goalscorer Ince hopes the Seasiders can use Reading as inspiration as they look to bounce back from the heartache of defeat in the play-off final.

Reading lost to Swansea in the Wembley showpiece 12 months ago before surging to the title and promotion back to the Barclays Premier League this season.

“It was a dream to even play at a place like this, let alone get a goal. It is great to score but it is a bit dampening to not come away with the result we wanted,” he said.