West Ham Utd 1 Tottenham 0:IN THE lead-up to this London derby it emerged that Robert Green had been consulting West Ham's club chaplain, Alan Bolding, in an effort to regain his confidence. Jesus saves but Green fumbles the rebound, as the old football joke might have gone, reports Barney Ronay at Upton Park.

At the end of 90 minutes, during which West Ham’s goalkeeper made several fine saves to contribute significantly to their first Premier League victory of the season, Green looked up – not to the heavens but towards the Upton Park press box. He offered a distinctly secular straight-arm gesture to those he feels have been less than sympathetic during a trying period of form. It was a display of pique that his manager, Avram Grant, refused to censure.

“Emotion is good, if you take it the right way. I don’t think emotion is a negative thing in a player,” Grant said. “He [Green] is my first choice and he will be my first choice until he will prove that he is not.”

This could yet turn into a significant staging post in Grant’s Upton Park career, as was indicated by the manager’s own obvious delight at the final whistle. Not only did West Ham, who were bottom of the table at the start of play, take all three points against a team they had not beaten for four years, they also performed with great energy and no little style.

Their new front pairing of Victor Obinna and Frederic Piquionne, with Carlton Cole dropped to the bench, looked encouragingly potent. Piquionne scored the only goal after 29 minutes, rising above Vedran Corluka to head in Mark Noble’s corner. The goal had been set up by a speedy burst from Kieron Dyer, who was making his 10th start in three years on the right of midfield.

Dyer left the field shortly after the goal, suffering from what Grant described as “dizziness”, perhaps induced by almost making it through an entire 45 minutes.

If Grant feels his physically imposing team are on the rise, for Spurs things are less clear.

“We had chances and it might have been different if they’d gone in,” said Harry Redknapp, focusing in particular on a crucial miss by Tom Huddlestone in the 55th minute.

In truth, Spurs looked flat. A lone bright spark was provided by Rafael van der Vaart, in a largely thankless role behind the ineffective Peter Crouch. The Dutchman’s passing and appreciation of space had his manager enthusing over the potential of a pairing with the injured Jermain Defoe.

Guardian Service