West Ham 3 Charlton 1

An eventful first half ended with West Ham a goal down to the Addicks. Charlton were gifted a penalty in the 14th minute when Danny Gabbidon handled the ball in his own area. Bent scored from the resulting penalty. Charlton however were soon reduced to ten men when Traore in the 22nd minute, having already been booked, tried to stop a West Ham free kick. He was duly given a second yellow card and was off.

For most of the rest of the half West Ham pressurised the Chartlon box. In the 27th minute West Ham had a goal disallowed when Carson parried a Zamora header and Harewood in burying the rebound was deemed by the referee to have fouled Bryan Hughes. In the 34th minute Harewood was himself fouled in the area but the referee inexplicably booked Harewood for diving. West Ham's best chances came from Marlon Harewood, whose 40th minute shot from 18 yards was saved by Scott Carson and from Tyrone Mears thirty seconds later whose shot from almost the same position just missed the left post.

At half time Mears was replaced by Paintsil. West Ham started the second half as they ended the first penning Charlton back in their own half. West Ham's pressure soon resulted in a goal when in the 57th minute Bowyer crossed and Zamora scored with his left foot. Immediately from the restart Gabbodon fouled Hasselbaink and from the free kick El Karkouri tried an incredible shot from all of 35 yards which Carroll just managed to save.

In the 55th minute John Paintsil crossed from the right wing and Zamora from the centre of the penalty area headed over the bar. In the 65th minute Bowyer crossed for Zamora and his half-volley straight into the ground bounced over the diving Carson and deflected off the post and just spun over the line for West Ham and Zamora's second.

In the 75th minute Bowyer shot from 18 yards and his shot just clipped the right post as it went wide. Five minutes later Chartlon themselves had a goal disallowed as Bent fouled Carrol with the ball in his hands, forcing the ball loose and poking it home. In the 85th minute Sheringham replaced Zamora. Two minutes into the four minutes extra time given Carlton Cole came on and was immediately put through by Bowyer and scored almost with his first touch. 3-1 to the Hammers and just the start to the new season that West Ham had hoped for.

West Ham
R Carroll, T Mears (45 J Paintsil) , A Ferdinand, D Gabbidon, P Konchesky, L Bowyer, H Mullins, N Reo-Coker, Y Benayoun, B Zamora (82 T Sheringham) , M Harewood (90 C Cole). Subs: J Walker, T Sheringham, C Cole, J Paintsil, J Collins

Charlton
S Carson, L Young, T El Karkouri, H Hreidarsson, D Traore, D Ambrose (29 G Sorondo) , M Holland, A Faye, B Hughes (71 A Reid) , J Hasselbaink (64 M Bent) , D Bent. Subs: T Myhre, A Reid, M Bent, D Rommedahl, G Sorondo

Att: 35000