At the end they stood and cheered as if this result had secured the Premiership trophy, never mind giving a vital shot in the arm to their survival hopes.

But for the West Ham supporters and players, last night's win was a watershed.

Success at home -- the first in 13 attempts in the league -- was finally delivered by a blistering second half display capped with a memorable matchwinner from Jermain Defoe.

The game was in its 90th minute when the substitute struck, racing on to a Joe Cole ball and jinking away from his marker before hitting low and true inside Brad Friedel's near post.

And it was a just reward for a second half show which saw West Ham wake up and take the game to Blackburn after falling behind close to half time.

Les Ferdinand -- one of five new faces from Sunday's line-up -- set the tone within seconds of the restart, bursting into the box before Andy Todd halted his progress.

And fit-again Paolo Di Canio also made his mark, skinning Lucas Neill before crossing for Ferdinand to test Friedel with a stooping header.

Inevitably it was the Italian who made the first breakthrough for his side as he jinked into the left hand corner of the Rovers' box only to be tripped by Todd.

The skipper picked himself up to fire home the 58th-minute penalty with confidence, and the recovery was on.

Blackburn, unimpressive all night, were restricted to a penalty shout when Dwight Yorke tangled with Nigel Winterburn, and a low shot from Andy Cole which fizzed narrowly wide after a headed clearance from David James.

Earlier the obligatory West Ham defensive error survived a new-look back four when Nigel Winterburn fouled Keith Gillespie and David Thompson's free kick found Yorke in the six-yard box with enough space to mis-control the ball, recover and then stab it home.

Published Thursday, January 30, 2003

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