West Brom 0
West Ham Utd 1
(Premiership)

HAMMERS captain Nigel Reo-Coker grabbed a first-half goal in a win that cemented West Ham a place in the top ten of the Premiership, with one league game still to go, writes Laura Burkin.

It was Reo-Coker's fifth goal of the season, four minutes before the break that condemned the already relegated Baggies to another defeat at the Hawthorns.

While the victory was overshadowed by striker Dean Ashton's hamstring injury with just over a week to go to the FA Cup final, it was three points that secured a top ten place for a Hammers team who have been inside the top half since they started life back in the Premiership after gaining promotion last year.

And while he has the task of trying to keep all his men fit in the next week or so, for manager Alan Pardew, the result was all the more pleasing for the feat it represented.

Speaking after the game, he said: "We wanted to win here because we want to finish as high as we can. We didn't play that well but again character and discipline got us the three points.

"It guarantees a top ten finish for us and we're very pleased because we've been in there since day one, so to fall out at the last through the pressures of the cup final would have been really disappointing.

"We were desperate for a victory because we still want to finish as high as we possibly can but with the final approaching, our injury situation means that we're all a bit on guard. It's all a balancing act right now."

As a precaution, and with Anton Ferdinand, James Collins and Yossi Benayoun already nursing knocks, Hammers took out Matty Etherington just before the game after the midfielder suffered a slight strain to his groin in the warm-up.

It meant a Premiership debut for 18-year-old Kyel Reid, another emerging product from the Hammers' successful youth academy and the youngster did not show any nerves as he got stuck in and delivered a few telling crosses into the box.

The game was only 20 minutes old though when Ashton pulled up and had to be replaced by Teddy Sheringham. While it was a fresh injury worry for Pardew, Hammers got on with the job in hand to ovecome a Baggies side now playing just for pride.

While Nathan Ellington had several chances to put the home side in a strong start from Bryan Robson's men, it was the Hammers who grabbed the opportunity and turned a chance into a goal minutes before half-time.

The ever-lively Bobby Zamora was able to shrug off Steve Watson before cutting the ball out of the reach of Curtis Davies and sliding it to the middle where Reo-Coker struck it in from 12 yards out.

In the second half, Ellington sent a clear header over the bar, while Kanu thought he had won the right for two penalties, but the appeals were waved away by referee Graham Poll.

Reo-Coker's strike was enough to see Hammers through and after being predicted by many critics for an instant return to the Championship, Hammers proved that what got them into the top ten at the start, was still there at the finish.