Brilliant Bobby Seals Victory At Everton!

THAT man Bobby Zamora did it again at Goodison Park, netting a second-half winner to seal a 2-1 win for West Ham United against Everton.

For the second time in three games Hammers had to show great determination to come from behind and win away from home. They trailed James Beattie's strike after only six minutes, but an own goal from David Weir levelled matters at half-time before Zamora struck to take all three points back to East London.

Alan Pardew made two changes from the side that lost 3-2 to Blackburn Rovers. One of them was forced with James Collins coming in for his full Premiership debut in place of former Cardiff City team-mate Danny Gabbidon, who was out with a gashed leg.

Collins' only other Premier League appearance to date came when Hammers last visited Merseyside, the defender a late replacement as an emergency striker at Anfield against Liverpool.

The other change was a tactical switch in midfield, with Carl Fletcher earning his first appearance of the season for West Ham United replacing teenager Mark Noble. It was the first ever Premiership appearance for the Welsh international.

Hayden Mullins was again named as captain in the absence of Nigel Reo-Coker with an ankle injury and Teddy Sheringham with a calf problem.

Hammers were right into the action, Paul Konchesky testing Everton goalkeeper Richard Wright after only five minutes with a stinging 20 yard drive.

But with just 9 minutes played it was Everton striking the decisive blow, taking the lead through striker James Beattie.

James McFadden broke Yossi Benayoun's tackle and sent in a low cross that found Beattie unmarked and the former England striker hammered high past Roy Carroll into the roof of the net to put Everton 1-0 up.

The lead did not last long though as Hammers came storming back and equalised on 18 minutes when Everton skipper David Weir put through his own net.

Tomas Repka's low cross from the right decieved everyone inside the Everton box, none more so than Weir who stuck out a leg and steered the ball away from the despairing dive of Richard Wright to make it 1-1.

It got worse for Everton when, moments later, McFadden limped off to be replaced by Marcus Bent.

But Beattie's return to form was posing a threat to the Hammers defence, emphasised on the half hour by a neat turn that took him away from his marke and a wicked, swerving shot from all of 25 yards that Carroll did well to claim.

Everton launched a sustained wave of attacks, but the flame-haired figure of Collins was proving an able deputy for fellow countryman Gabbidon, repelling everything the home side threw at the West Ham goal.

Hammers gave an industrious first-half performance without really threatening the Everton goal. But at the other end they remained solid to send the teams in tied at 1-1.

HT: 1-1

The second-half began with Hammers putting the home side under increasing pressure, and a clever first-time shot on the run by Harewood very nearly embarrased Wright at his near post, but the shot crashed into the side netting.

With the half ten minutes old Harewood should have done better with an excellent chance, heading wide when unmarked after a pin-point Hayden Mullins cross from deep on the right had picked out the target man.

In a sustained period of Hammers pressure Mullins then headed a Benayoun corner back into a crowded Everton penalty area, but after a dozen set of legs had flailed at the ball without making any telling contact the home defence eventually cleared their lines.

And on 67 minutes Hammers made that pressure count when man of the moment Bobby Zamora scored his third goal in three games to put Alan Pardew's men 2-1 ahead.

The goal owed much to the mazy skills of Matty Etherington who twisted inside his Phil Neville before curling in a shot that Wright did well to parry. But Zamora was sharp to even the slightest sniff of a chance and pounced to smash the ball home from close range.

Almost instantly David Moyes responded by sending on the imposing figure of Duncan Ferguson as Everton now looked to mount a rescue operation from a game they had led in the first-half.

The big striker very nearly made an immediate impact but he could only head Beattie's back-post cross into the arms of a well-positioned Roy Carroll from close range.

Suddenly Hammers were sitting deep and it was Everton making all the running. Substitute Mikel Arteta went so close to grabbing an equaliser, his shot from the edge of the area taking the faintest deflections off Carl Fletcher on its way out for a corner.

Looking to strengthen his team for the final throws of this match, Pards introduced Christian Dailly and Shaun Newton for Matty Etherington and Bobby Zamora with four minutes left.

The hard working Harewood very nearly embarrased goalkeeper Wright when a throw-in from Neville put the Everton keeper in trouble. With Harewood charging down on him Wright had to make a desperate sliding tackle to avoid being robbed of possession.

With three extra minutes at the end of the game, it was all about hanging on for Alan Pardew's men. And hang on they did, to the delight of the army of travelling claret and blue fans who sang the roof off Goodison Park all night.

At the end of the game all the Hammers players and coaching staff went across to the far corner of Goodison to celebrate three hard earned points with the West Ham United fans.

The scenes underlined the spirit and determination knitted together within West Ham United at the moment, in what is turning into a very promising season for Alan Pardew and his Hammers.