Good Shipp Palace sails into Prem
The Eagles, who were languishing at the wrong end of the table when Iain Dowie took over in December, edged an end-to-end encounter at The Millennium Stadium thanks to Shipperley's strike midway through the second period.
It was hard on The Hammers who had several good opportunities, but poor finishing proved decisive as their South East London rivals took the spoils, and a reported £30 million Premiership jackpot.
The Eagles created the first chance of note on 13 minutes when Wayne Routledge picked out Andy Johnson with inch an perfect cross from the right, but the hit-man climbed too early and could only send his header over the bar from eight yards.
Minutes later Stephen Bywater flapped at Shaun Derry's left-wing corner, only helping the ball to the unmarked Danny Granville at the back post, but the former Chelsea star got his finish all wrong and dragged the ball wide of the unguarded net.
West Ham responded and should have opened the scoring when Michael Carrick floated a superb through ball into the path of Bobby Zamora, who outpaced Tony Popovic but struck his shot straight at Nico Vaesen who parried to safety.
Bywater then made a smart stop from Johnson who produced an instant turn and shot after Shipperley's effort was blocked on the edge of the area.
Shortly before the half hour mark Christian Dailly was allowed a free header from Matthew Etherington's left-flank corner but directed a tame effort wide.
Michael Hughes came agonizingly close to breaking the deadlock when, after his initial shot had ricocheted fortunately back into his path, he saw his follow-up cleared off the line by Tomas Repka after Bywater had got a hand to the ball.
Neil Shipperley spurned the first opportunity of the second period when he blazed Popovic's knock-down over the bar from six yards.
Nico Vaesen was then called into action to palm away Steve Lomas's spectacular long-range volley.
However, it was Palace who took the lead on 63 minutes. Johnson collected midway inside the West Ham half and headed towards goal before unleashing a low left-footed shot which an unsighted Bywater could only palm into the path of Shipperley, who tapped home gleefully into the empty net.
The Hammers responded instantly and had two goals, correctly, ruled out for offside in quick succession as Connolly and Zamora were both denied.
Alan Pardew's men threw everything forward in search of an equaliser and Etherington blasted over from an acute angle after substitute Brian Deane had caused panic in the Palace penalty area.
The Hammers thought they should have had a penalty eight minutes from time when Mikele Leigertwood lunged at Carrick but referee Graham Poll waved away the protests and replays showed the defender had got a slight touch on the ball as he slid in to challenge.
It proved to be the last tense moment for Palace, who held on comfortably despite four minutes of injury time to spark a huge red and blue party in Cardiff.
