West Ham United 2-0 Swansea City
Barclays Premier League
Kevin Nolan and Andy Carroll rekindled their partnership to devastating effect as West Ham United gained three precious points against Swansea City on Saturday.
Nolan scored both Hammers goals in their 2-0 victory - with both laid on by the big Geordie - as Sam Allardyce's men ended a two-month wait for a home win.
The pair's chemistry reminded the home fans of their telepathic understanding, with Swansea unable to cope.
However, it was not all good news for the hosts, as Carroll was later dismissed after catching Chico Flores with an arm as he landed following an aerial challenge.
Whether there was intent from the Hammers man was debatable, but Howard Webb reached straight for the red card.
Even with that handicap, West Ham were largely untroubled for the remaining half-hour as the Welsh side struggled to test Adrian in goal
The Hammers drafted George McCartney and Matt Jarvis into the team to replace Joey O'Brien and Mohamed Diame, who suffered injuries in the midweek draw at Chelsea.
After a quiet opening to the game, the Hammers burst into life with the opening goal on 26 minutes.
It was a case of the famous Carroll-Nolan one-two combo as George McCartney lifted a ball into the box for the big No9 to knock down for his skipper to control and fire an arrow-straight left-footed shot into the net.
The lead was nearly a short-lived one though, as nine minutes later Jonjo Shelvey clipped a pass over the top of the Hammers defence to chase. Wilfried Bony looked to have timed his run just right, but as he was about to pull the trigger, James Tomkins dived in to nick the ball off hie toes.
Two minutes later Shelvey was involved again when he found space in the left channel to advance to the edge of the box before dragging a shot wide of the mark.
Swansea may have had more of the ball, but West Ham were more forceful when attacking and they grabbed a priceless second with the half-time whistle about to blow.
Carroll did superbly to put Ashley Williams under pressure and win a corner down the right, which Stewart Downing delivered, Carroll rose magnificently to head back and Nolan glanced into the back of the net.
West Ham started the second period as they ended the first, with Matt Jarvis nipping in front of Swansea stopper Tremmel and digging out a cut back, but Ben Davies cleared with Nolan lurking.
The positive mood inside the Boleyn Ground was checked on the hour when Carroll was dismissed after clashing with Chico following an aerial tussle.
With the Hammers now a man light, Swansea predictably enjoyed more and more possesion, yet remained utterly toothless in attack.
That Adrian did not have a serious save to make all game spoke again of the Hammers' impressive resilience in defence as they secured their 11th clean sheet of the season, and more importantly, their fifth victory.
West Ham United: Adrian; Demel, Collins, Tomkins, McCartney; Nolan (Nocerino 87), Noble, Taylor (Reid 79); Downing, Carroll, Jarvis (C.Cole 66)
Subs: Jaaskelainen, Morrison, Johnson, Borriello
Goals: Nolan 26, Nolan 45+1
Booked: Noble
Sent off: Carroll
Swansea City: Tremmel; Tiendalli, Chico, Williams, Davies; Amat (Pozuelo 62), De Guzman; Dyer (Ngog 77), Shelvey (Hernandez 70), Routledge; Bony
Subs: Cornell, Britton, Lamah, Rangel
Referee: Howard Webb
Attendance: 31,848