Carsley deepens Roeder's Upton woes

West Ham United 0 Everton 1

West Ham's players trained at Upton Park in the week to try and stimulate a winning performance on the ground where they have laboured to so little effect this season. More stringent methods seem to be required, judging by yesterday's unsatisfactory outing against an Everton side that displayed little more than basic competence – the extra quality being supplied by wunderkind Wayne Rooney as he came on for the final 25 minutes.

Perhaps Glenn Roeder's men should camp out on their pitch in an effort to make themselves feel at home. Or better still, pretend it belongs to another team. After all, they came in search of their first home win on the back of successive away victories at Sunderland and Fulham.

In that respect, their form this season has been a strange mirror image of the last, when they travelled poorly but found the old site of the Boleyn Castle to be a bastion. Reportedly impressive at Loftus Road in midweek, West Ham contrived yesterday to be far less than the sum of their considerable parts. For the increasingly weary crowd it was a familiar sight, although it came as a nasty shock to their manager.

"After two away wins this week it was the last thing I expected,'' Roeder said. "I thought we would go at them from the start but it was a very flat performance. We trained here yesterday and everyone seemed to be looking forward to the game. But it was only in the last 15 to 20 minutes that we really went for it, and at that stage we were just trying to salvage something.

"There were two or three players who were below par that I wouldn't have expected to be. It's the end of October and we haven't won a home game yet. It's not good enough.''

Among those who will look back on their Sunday with dissatisfaction is West Ham's goalkeeper David James, whose huge potential continues to be undermined by his habit of making huge mistakes.

His first misjudgement might have cost his team a goal a minute before the break when he hesitated as a cross came in, then punched at air, allowing the ball to carry to Everton's midfielder Li Tie, who failed to make the most of his opportunity.

But there was no such luck for James in the 70th minute as David Unsworth's cross from the left progressed unhindered to the far post, with the giant custodian rooted to his line, before the industrious Lee Carsley, his bald pate gleaming in the lights, beat his marker to head home the game's only goal.

The home side in general, and Paolo Di Canio in particular, responded with a late show of enterprise, but there was a desperation to West Ham's efforts which seemed all the more absurd given the patent talent of young players such as Jermain Defoe, Michael Carrick and Joe Cole. All too often, they succeeded only in tying themselves in knots.

Everton's most talented youngster, whose spectacular late winner against Arsenal the previous weekend had made him the talk of the Premiership, attracted a flickering shoal of photographers as he took up his place on the bench. The prodigy came close to matching his impact of the previous weekend just two minutes after taking to the pitch when he cut through the heart of West Ham's lumbering defence before shooting narrowly over. "Wayne's handled all the attention this week well,'' said Moyes, who added with a grim little smile, "but I expect him to finish.'' Moyes' expectation looks likely to be met more often than not.

West Ham United (4-4-2): James 3; Dailly 4; Repka 5; Pearce 4; Minto 4 (Camara, 82); Sinclair 5; Lomas 4 (Cissé 5, 73), Carrick 6; Cole 7; Defoe 6; Di Canio 8. Substitutes not used: Van der Gouw (gk), Winterburn, Breen.

West Ham United 0 Everton 1
Carsley 70

Half-time: 0-0 Attendance: 34,117

Everton (4-4-2): Wright 6; Hibbert 7, Yobo 7, Stubbs 6, Unsworth 7; Carsley 8, Linderoth 6, Li Tie 7 (Pistone, 89), Pembridge 6; Radzinski 6 (Rooney 7, 64), Campbell 7. Substitutes not used: Gerrard (gk), Alexandersson, Li Wei Feng.

Referee: A Wiley (Burntwood) 7.

Man of the match: Carsley.