West Ham 1 - 0 Sunderland: Hammers Leave It Late To Nab Sickening Win

The only new change to the Sunderland side was the return of Lamine Kone to the lads' back line at the expense of Papy Djilobodji who had to settle for a place on the bench. Perhaps a silver lining to a black cloud of an injury list.

Sunderland started off firmly on the back foot, with West Ham retaining virtually all of the possession and winning seemingly every battle in midfield. The Hammers looked threatening going forward with pace and power, but thankfully lacked any real end product. Antonio, Payet and Zaza in particular were proving very difficult to contain in the opening ten minutes, but their efforts were dashed.

The first glimmer of any real threat from Sunderland came just after quarter of an hour as Watmore ran onto the end of a loose ball in typical Watmore fashion, but Adrian was diligent enough to intercept.

Some ten minutes after, the visitors were given their first real scare as Payet danced through the defence and fired on goal, only for his effort to strike the woodwork and bounce back - the subsequent rebound quickly cleared.

As the first half ticked on, the balance of power began to shift more toward Sunderland as we began hitting the home side more frequently on the break - Watmore, Khazri and Manquillo all linking up well, winning free-kicks on the edge of the box, and ultimately asking questions of the West Ham defence.

The first forty-five minutes would see no goals, though. Zaza attempted an overhead kick in stoppage time, but we were saved from seeing a spectacle scored against us as the shot went wide.

Chances were left right and centre after the restart, with Khazri being slipped through amid a defensive mix-up, only to lose the one-on-one with Adrian. Shortly after, Ogbonna sends Zaza seemingly through on goal, but Kone hunted him down and dispossessed him before any threat could come to fruition.

The two sides would prove to be quite evenly matched for large portions of the second half, both enjoying their fair share of half-chances. Sunderland even looked to have a sense of ambition, with Wahbi Khazri attempting a shot from his own half after spotting Adrian out of position.

Kone and Watmore turned defence into attack quite seamlessly on the break, and both took turns in picking out Defoe, but the veteran frontman couldn't weave his way through the West Ham defence - which completely encompassed him.

As the minutes ticked away, the home side gradually started to see more of the ball. With a quarter of an hour to go, Obiang broke through the defence and was left with only Pickford to deal with from an acute angle, but his shot could only find the side-netting.

Moyes evidently tried to run the game down by going on the defensive - introducing McNair and then Billy Jones shortly after, replacing Pienaar and Khazri respectively.

Khazri was booked shortly before his substitution for petulantly throwing the ball away in dissent, and his replacement was carded almost immediately after his introduction for timewasting.

It looked as if we'd seen out a hard-fought draw and finally got our first clean sheet, but Winston Reid picked up a loose ball from the West Ham's last corner of the game and drove it home. A sickening sucker punch and a fresh injection of misery as we remain bottom and winless.

Today was yet another example of Moyesie's Law: Everything that can go wrong, will go wrong.

Score: West Ham 1 - 0 Sunderland (Reid 90+4')

Sunderland: Pickford, Manquillo, Kone, O'Shea, van Aanholt, Watmore (Gooch 74'), Rodwell, N'Dong, Pienaar (McNair 80'), Khazri (Jones 86'), Defoe

Subs: Mika, Jones (Khazri 86'), Djilobodji, McNair (Pienaar 80'), Anichebe, Honeyman, Gooch (Watmore 74')

West Ham: Adrian, Reid, Kouyate, Ogbonna, Antonio, Noble, Obiang, Fernandez, Lanzini (Fletcher 83'), Zaza (Calleri 68'), Payet

Subs: Nordtveit, Feghouli, Collins, Fletcher (Lanzini 83'), Calleri (Zaza 68'), Spiegel, Oxford