West Ham 1 Liverpool 0

Liverpool probably started the stronger of the teams but as the first half progressed it was West Ham who began to dominate both possession and territory and Liverpool were reduced to desperate measures to keep West Ham at bay.

It was a Carragher foul on Cole that led to West Ham's closest effort of the half. Mark Noble took the resulting free-kick and found Boa Morte at the far post but Boa Morte's header hit the crossbar. Minutes before that Boa Morte had an even better chance when the ball found its way to him just inside the Liverpool area. However Boa Morte's shot flew way over the bar.

As the second half started Liverpool had another brief flurry but West Ham were soon back in charge. In the 55th minute Mark Noble from the right wing crossed another free-kick into the box and Boa Morte shot wide of the right post from 12 yards.

That was about the last of the action for Boa Morte as he and Bowyer were replaced by Ashton and Etherington in the 58th minute. Three minutes later and Liverpool brought on Lucas for Kewell.

It was the Brazilian who had the more immediate impact of the substitutes as his shot in the 62nd minute from 18 yards was deflected wide for a corner by Neill. Four minutes later and Lucas tried another shot from about the same distance but he failed to trouble Green as the ball sailed to the right of the West Ham goal.

In the 73rd minute Green was called into action as he saved Torres' 6 yard shot from the right side of the penalty area. West Ham then put together a sustained period of pressure and in the next five minutes managed a Cole header on goal, a Ljungberg right footed shot and a shot from Neil. Unluckily none of the shots hit the back of the net.

With only minutes of the game left Kuyt had a chance to score for Liverpool but his header from 12 yards missed West Ham's right hand post. Mark Noble soon made him regret that when in the 90th minute he got the game's only goal. A foul by Carragher on Ljungberg in the Liverpool penalty area gave West Ham a penalty. West Ham's youngest player took the responsibility of the spot kick on himself and drilled the ball into the bottom right of the goal.

Game over and possibly job over for Rafa Benitez.