West Ham United boss Sam Allardyce insists his side remain on course for their highest finish since returning the Premier League after picking up just their third league win of 2015.

A 1-0 win over basement-dwellers Burnley was secured thanks to Mark Noble's 24th-minute penalty following the dismissal of Clarets defender Michael Duff.

And with three points the Hammers leapfrog Stoke City to claim ninth place once more and sit three points shy of Allardyce's target of 50 for the season.

Since steering the club back into the top flight in 2012, Allardyce has overseen 13th and tenth placed finishes, garnering 40 and 46 points respectively.

Speaking to the club website, the 60-year-old said: "Our performances this season, on the whole, have been the best we’ve ever had. The points return in recent games may have been disappointing but mainly, I can’t fault the performances.

"If we can win two or even all three of our last games then we’ll really finish on a high. That for me would be a very good season because that would take us past the 50 point mark. Reaching 50 points in year three is no mean feat at this level of football."

He added: "We’ve got one more points than our best finish which was 46. Now we’re on 47 which is a positive. Tenth was our best finish and now we’re ninth. We’ve scored more goals than we’ve ever scored, even with three more games to go."

The Hammers had 29 shots during the clash at Upton Park yet only seven were on target and midfielder Stewart Downing knows their conversion rate must improve if the east Londoners are to kick on.

He mused: "It was a difficult game actually, until the sending-off, because I thought Burnley probably settled the quicker and we didn’t really get out of the blocks.

"After that, we created a lot of chances, I can’t remember how many it was. Their keeper has pulled off some unbelievable saves and with better a little bit better finishing we could have put it out of sight."

The England international added: "It was wave of wave of attacks and chances but we didn’t kill it off. We’ve not won in a long time, though, so we have got to take the win."

Cheikhou Kouyate won the penalty from which Noble scored the game's only goal and the Hammers number 11 felt the red card issued to Burnley stalwart Duff was unwarranted.

He explained: "Cheik (Kouyate) has done really well and the lad has got to make the tackle or else I think he scores. I think the red card is a bit harsh, and it changes the game because it gave us a lot more space to play.

"It was a great penalty. Tom (Heaton) their keeper is jumping around and makes himself big but Nobes keeps his calm in those situations and it was a great penalty and got us off and running.

"From then on, we played some really good football and defended quite well," he opined.

Reflecting on his own penalty shout for a foul by Ben Mee in the second half, Downing said: "The referee made some decisions - he gave the red card and I thought mine was a penalty - and he had a mixed day, but even then we had a lot of chances. I had a couple of volleys blocked, Kev (Nolan) had one saved and so did Enner (Valencia)."

He continued: "It was wave after wave of chances and that’s the only disappointing thing because I thought we defended very well. Reece (Burke) had another good game at the back and has slotted in really well - he’s been a big plus over the last two games.

"We had been conceding late in games and losing points, so that’s two clean sheets and back to winning ways, so hopefully we can finish strong. We’re ninth in the table and it’s in our hands to have a really good finish, get over the 50-point mark and that’s a really good season for us."