West Ham 1 Sunderland 0

Ilan, Stanislas and Behrami started for West Ham.

Sunderland started the better of the two sides. West Ham had an early scare in the 11th minute when a Sunderland corner fizzed across the six yard box and Campbell just failed to connect from six yards out.

West Ham however got better as the half progressed and had the better of the goal chances, without ever really troubling Gordon in goal. West Ham's best chance came in the 36th minute when Cole found Ilan in the penalty area but Ilan's shot from ten yards out was blocked effectively by the Sunderland defence. Before that in the 15th minute Behrami had managed to force a good save from Gordon with an effort from just outside the area.

West Ham also had a couple of long range efforts from Kovac (well over) and from Cole (well wide). At the other end Bent fired a long range effort straight at Green and Bent also saw a chip from 8 yards beat Green but also fly over the bar.


In the second half West Ham had another early scare when a Kovac back pass in the 47nd minute almost put Bent clean through but Da Costa got back to save the midfielder's blushes. In the 50th minute a long freekick forward from West Ham's own half was met by Cole with his head on the edge of the area and Ilan poked the ball home from six yards.

After the goal Sunderland responded really well and West Ham were forced to defend for much of the rest of a nervy half. In the 64th minute Jones' first touch of the ball played Bent clean through on goal but luckily for West Ham Bent fell over and therefore missed a golden opportunity to get Sunderland back on equal terms.

In the 77th minute Henderson forced a good save from Green from a freekick from out wide on the left wing. Apart from continuing to pressure the West Ham penalty area that was about it for their goal chances. At the other end Cole hit the side netting in the 90th minute from the edge of the area and Franco thought he had wrapped up the three points in the 94th minute but his goal was disallowed for handball.

In the end then it was a vital win for West Ham and with Hull losing as well things suddenly look a little brighter for the Irons.