Derby	0 - 5	West Ham
Booked Oakley 21 Fagan 89	Half Time ( 0 - 1 )	Scorers Bowyer 42 Etherington 51 Lewis o.g. 55 Bowyer 59 Solano 69  Booked Pantsil 24 Bowyer 34

Derby managed to hold out for nearly half the game but then conceded just before the break before falling apart in the second-half. In one of their worst performances of the season.

They went into the game having failed to beat West Ham at home for a decade. Billy Davies took a huge gamble by starting with an unfit Kenny Miller as a lone striker.

The Hammers’ injury problems meant that Alan Curbishley had to shuffle his side. But it didn’t seem to matter as they ended up such comfortable winners that they could’ve suffered more injuries during the game and still won with ease as Davies’ attacking gamble backfired.

West Ham started to make early inroads and Boa Morte got away from Edworthy but took too many touches before shooting and Stephen Bywater eventually made a good save to keep the scored level.

The opening 45 minutes was generally a low-quality affair with neither side able to produce much in terms of skill. Both teams failed to find much of a spark but even in the uninspiring Midlands air, West Ham still looked the more comfortable side.

Nolberto Solano came closest to opening the scoring when his curling free-kick came back off the crossbar after West Ham were awarded a free-kick thanks to a handball just outside the area.

In contrast, Derby failed to put in a good show up front. Despite the return of Kenny Miller in attack, the midfield didn’t get forward enough and couldn’t find the creativity to make anything in the final third. It was another disappointing display by the Premiership’s bottom club who certainly lived up to their reputation as they sunk to their fifth consecutive defeat without a goal to their name in any of them.

Lee Bowyer opened the scoring minutes before half-time when he met Carlton Cole’s header down and hit the ball home. Derby protested that Bowyer had controlled the nod down with his arm before nutmegging the advancing keeper but the referee waved away the protests and the goal stood.

The hosts failed to turn up for the second-half as West Ham ran riot in the first 25 minutes. Boa Morte was again denied by Bywater and the defence before Matthew Upson hit the bar from Solano’s corner.

Derby failed to do much up front and after Eddie Lewis was first to react to a loose ball and cross, the eventual shot was off-target. But this was one of their better chances of the game and shows just how far they need to go to come anywhere near scraping themselves off the bottom of the table.

Then their defence left too many holes at the back and as they failed to close down quick enough, West Ham played the ball across the goal from the right and Matthew Etherington blasted in the Hammers’ second goal.

Shortly afterwards, some poor defending again by the Rams saw them failed to clear a corner and Jonathan Spector’s shot was blocked on the line by Eddie Lewis who somehow let it squirm between his legs before accidently knocking the ball over the line to put the game effectively out of Derby’s reach.

As the Rams were pushed back, they offered little resistance and it was a case of how many West Ham could score rather than how many Derby could restrict them to.

Bowyer scored his second and West Ham’s fourth when he picked up Cole’s pass into the centre of the box and found it easy to slide in and score from close range with the defence nowhere in sight.

And after hitting the bar in the first-half, Solano managed to get his name on the scoresheet after 69 minutes with a free-kick which this time went under the woodwork and into the back of the net. With a perfect free-kick into the top corner, it added some deserved gloss to the scoreline.

The hosts deserved the boos which rang around the stadium at the final whistle, with one of their most threatening moves of the game coming from Giles Barnes in the closing stages when he made a run down the right. But it predictably came to nothing.

Derby showed just how desperate and tenuous their Premier League place is after they conceded five goals for the third time this season. They’ve now let in over 30 goals in their 13 games, scoring just five in return and it looks as though it’ll be a long, cold winter for Billy Davies and his side.

With such a rousing performance, it’s a shame West Ham only picked up three points. They were by far the superior side and after breaking Derby’s resistance, there was only one team in the game. It was their biggest league victory for nearly a decade to move them into the top half of the table.


Derby: Bywater, Mears, Moore, Edworthy, Griffin, Barnes, Oakley, Pearson, Teale (Howard 52), Miller (Fagan 75), Lewis (Earnshaw 58).

Subs Not Used: McEveley, Jones.

West Ham: Green, Neill, Gabbidon, Upson, McCartney (Pantsil 14), Solano, Spector, Bowyer (Collins 72), Etherington, Cole, Boa Morte.

Subs Not Used: Wright, Ljungberg, Camara.

Att: 32,440

Ref: Mark Clattenburg (Tyne & Wear).

By Ben Hughes