West Ham draw first blood in playoff semi-final

LONDON (Reuters) - West Ham United took another step towards returning to the Premier League at the first attempt when Jack Collison scored twice in a 2-0 win at Cardiff City in their Championship (second division) playoff semi-final first leg on Thursday.

Collison headed in after his first effort was saved on nine minutes and his deflected effort from outside the box made it 2-0 four minutes before the break.

Blackpool and Birmingham City, who like West Ham both went down from the Premier League last season, meet in their semi-final first leg on Friday.

West Ham missed out to Reading and Southampton on automatic promotion but will be confident of making the May 19 final at Wembley when they welcome Cardiff to London for the second leg on Monday.

Cardiff, who started Thursday's game brightly before fading and then enjoying a late period of pressure, have a poor record in the playoffs.

(Writing by Mark Meadows; Editing by Clare Fallon)