Hammers get that elusive win

West Ham eased the pressure on manager Alan Pardew and hauled themselves out of the relegation zone with a passionate 2-1 win over Blackburn at Upton Park in Sunday’s match.

Mullins' matchwinner

A first half header from the veteran Teddy Sheringham broke a goal drought for the side which had lasted more than nine hours.

It was followed by a second half enough from Hayden Mullins and was enough to take all three points as Mark Hughes side could only score a consolation goal in injury time through striker David Bentley.
  
It was West Ham’s first win since Argentine World Cup stars Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano joined the club amongst great pomp and fanfare at the end of August.

But it has been downhill ever since, with Tevez and Mascherano  failing to make any impact as the Hammers were dumped out of Europe  4-0 on aggregate by Palermo and then in midweek suffered League Cup  humiliation at the hands of Chesterfield.
 
It got worse with rumours of a training ground bust up between captain Nigel Reo-Coker and burly striker Marlon Harewood, something the latter denied as well as the constant rumours of the departure of Pardew.

Perhaps the worst news for Hammers fans came when Sven Goran Erikkson was linked to the manager’s post this week.
     
Sheringham showed his trademark polish when he opened the scoring on 21 minutes with a powerful header from Israeli international Yossi Benayoun’s flicked cross.
  
Midfielder Mullins seemingly made the game safe 10 minutes from time as he arrived unchecked to tap the ball home from a corner.
  
But there was late drama as Benni McCarthy turned and fired in a powerful shot in injury time that Robert Green could not hold, allowing Bentley to nip in and fire home the rebound.

Source: Al Jazeera, News Agencies