Hammers batter lowly Derby

Lee Bowyer bagged a brace as West Ham crushed Derby with a 5-0 success at Pride Park.

Bowyer nets two as Rams crushed at Pride Park

Lee Bowyer bagged a brace as West Ham crushed lowly Derby County with a 5-0 success at Pride Park. The Rams gave a decent account of themselves early on, but the contest turned before the break when Bowyer scored his first from close-range. Bowyer was also involved in West Ham's second scored by Matthew Etherington, although it was Eddie Lewis' own goal from Jonathan Spector's shot that ended Derby's resistance. Ex-Newcastle man Bowyer added West Ham's fourth after turning home substitute John Pantsil's cross before Nolberto Solano's free-kick added the icing on the cake. West Ham's third Premier League success away from home lifts them into ninth in the table while Derby remain rooted to the foot of the ladder with just one win to their name. In fairness, Derby kicked off full of running and commitment, although their aggression was slightly misdirected when Gary Teale and skipper Matt Oakley unleashed tackles that had George McCartney and Bowyer writhing in agony. Left-back McCartney required treatment for two minutes after Teale's challenge and he was unable to continue 14 minutes in following an aggressive - but clean - tackle from Giles Barnes. Pantsil was the replacement, immediately swapping flanks with Lucas Neill. Luis Boa Morte went close to opening the scoring, bursting clear down the right side and leaving Marc Edworthy - making his first appearance of the season - on the deck in the area. The Portuguese's left-foot finish was blocked but only to Carlton Cole, whose follow up was saved by Stephen Bywater. West Ham were looking increasingly threatening as the half wore on, their best move of the match almost releasing Cole but still resulting in a free-kick inches outside the box. It looked too close for a direct strike but Solano did his best to prove otherwise with a delightful effort against the crossbar.

Deserved lead

With half-time approaching, the visitors finally took the lead they deserved. Solano's cross found Cole in the box and his nod down allowed the criminally unmarked Bowyer to sweep the ball through Bywater's legs and into the net. It almost got worse for the home side immediately after the restart, Darren Moore was easily shrugged aside by Cole, whose scuffed cross saw Boa Morte shoot too close to the goalkeeper. The resulting Solano corner was just as poorly defended, Matthew Upson allowed to smash a shot against the bar, narrowly missing out on his first goal for West Ham. Having failed to muster a single shot at goal in the first half, Derby could have levelled when Kenny Miller's header from Eddie Lewis' cross sailed wide.

Game over

But, in a frantic start to the second period, it was game over within eight minutes, first when Etherington and Bowyer were allowed the freedom of the area to exchange passes before the former fired home. The contest was summed up by West Ham's third. A corner was partially cleared but the ball eventually fell to Spector, whose strike looked to have been blocked by Lewis, only for his fellow American to fall over the ball and send it over the line. Having introduced Steve Howard and Robert Earnshaw and over-committed up front, Derby were then hit on the break, Solano feeding Cole out wide and his cross was met by Bowyer's perfectly-timed run. To their credit, only a handful of the home fans headed for the exit, but the rest were simply stunned into silence. But the exodus was not long in coming after Solano bettered his earlier free-kick with goal five, a stunning strike across Bywater and into the top corner. Derby huffed and puffed trying to pull one back but The Hammers remained a threat on the break and could have made it 6-0 when Cole blazed wide. The miss was greeted with ironic cheers from the travelling faithful, who were in party mood for the remainder of the game.

Derby County	Team Statistics	West Ham United
0	Goals	5
0	1st Half Goals	1
1	Shots on Target	8
7	Shots off Target	5
0	Blocked Shots	3
4	Corners	5
15	Fouls	10
1	Offsides	0
2	Yellow Cards	2
0	Red Cards	0
71	Passing Success	77.2
22	Tackles	18
86.4	Tackles Success	72.2
46.1	Possession	53.9
56	Territorial Advantage	44