England Under-21 striker Harewood sealed a tense clash and clinched West Ham's first Cup Final appearance since 1980 with a classy finish midway through the second-half.

They will face Liverpool in the final in Cardiff on May 13.

Drawing on the memory of legendary coach John Lyall who had just passed away West Ham came into the game with a feeling of destiny surrounding them.

They made a nervous start though and goalkeeper Shaka Hislop was by far the busier goalkeeper inside the opening ten minutes as Boro chased an early opener.

Winger Stuart Downing created Boro's best first-half opportunity when his pinpoint corner found Franck Queudrue on 34 minutes, but the French defender wastefully headed over from six yards.

West Ham though soon started to press and Matthew Etherington's corner picked Ashton out at the far post, but the striker was back-pedalling and he could only direct his effort onto the top of Jones's crossbar. Then captain Nigel Reo-Coker was unlucky not to score when he cut in and unleashed a right-foot strike inches wide of the far post.

But after surviving more near misses by Hasselbaink and Downing, West Ham booked a their place in the final when Harewood latched onto Ashton's flick before turning and firing past Jones from 12 yards.