Hammers maul Derby

West Ham mauled the Premiership's bottom club Derby 5-0 today with goals from Bowyer (2), Etherington and Solano. It was a dreadful performance by Derby who already look destined for the Championship.

The Hammers led by a 1-0 margin at halftime, with Lee Bowyer firing in the ball through a left footed strike.

However in the second half West Ham smashed in four more goals to make this evenings game one of the worst for Rams manager Billy Davies.

After tonight’s performance Derby County are strong contenders for the drop from the Premier League next season, who already have a goal difference of -26 goals.

Derby Manager Billy Davies whose side is still lingering at the bottom of the league table with six points in 12 games, made five changes to his side where Edworthy, Teale, Mears, Lewis and Miller came in place of Davis, McEveley, Fagan, Leacock and Howard.

Alan Curbishley has made just one change in the West Hams squad bringing in Jonathan Spector in place on Hayden Mullins. Fredrik Ljungberg was seen on the bench yet again for the Hammers.

For the first quarter of the match the play was mostly confined to midfield, with neither of the teams initiating any threatening raids into the rival camp.

In the 18th minute Luis Boa Morte saw his left footed volley from the center of the penalty area miss the target by a whisker.

A minute later West Ham had another chance to take the lead, but Luis Boa Morte’s left footer from the centre of the penalty area was blocked by Rams defender Darren Moore.

The visitors continued with their dominance with The Rams not showing any signs of improvement to their performance.

After much probing Lee Bowyer gave West Ham United the vital lead in the 43rd minute when he was set up by a fine headed pass from Carlton Cole who collected a long floater from Nolberto Solano.

In the second half West Ham were all the more vicious in their attacks with the Derby players confined to their own half for most of the time.

In the 46th minute Derby keeper Stephen Bywater came with a fine save to block Boa Morte’s powerful strike from the penalty.

A minute later Nolberto Solano sent in a curling corner which travelled to Matthew Upson who drilled in a right footed shot which hit the horizontal bar.

In the 50th minute West Ham doubled the lead when Lee Bowyer set up Matthew Etherington, inside the Rams danger zone. The 26-year old finding some open space made no mistake to fire home the ball through a left footer.

After that goal there was no looking back for the Hammers who fired in goals at regular intervals.

In the 54th minute Derby’s Eddie Lewis in the process of clearing away Jonathan Spector’s strike at the goal saw the ball enter his own nets.

Lee Bowyer scored his brace four minutes later when he fired in the ball following some lousy work by the Derby defenders.

This was probably manager Billy Davies’s worst evening of this season, but the Hammers showed no signs of mercy as they netted in their fifth goal through Nolberto Solano who scored off a delightful freekick.