West Brom - 1 West Ham - 2 Much as the crowd bellowed, the game screamed louder still. It was a limitless roar of excitement, protest, recrimination, frustration and, for West Ham at the end, elation.
In view of the pounding dished out to the emotions, the dent left on the shape of the Premiership is ridiculously shallow. The clubs exchanged places, with the visitors now on the sunlit upper slopes of the relegation zone.
Maybe that tweaking of the Upton Park mood will come to seem crucial, but Glenn Roeder had better not expect the progress to continue if all their fixtures are like this.
David James has not been having a magisterial year but the battery of saves he produced put this among the greatest performances of his life. Lee Hughes alone could have had a hat-trick.
All the same, there was never anything numb or fatalistic about West Ham. They challenged the impression that the residents of this football institution are too well bred to scratch and gnaw. They were raw enough even with one another. Tomas Repka had to be restrained by team-mates when James harangued him for a mistake that could have put West Brom 2-1 ahead.
If tantrums are on the agenda, it is a matter of pride for Paolo di Canio to be supremely piqued and he was enraged to be replaced even though Roeder was convinced he had picked up an injury in the first half. There were reports last week of divisions within the squad, but the squabbling here is of a sort that is likely to hearten fans if it proves the players' feelings are invested in this season.
West Brom's Darren Moore headed against a post early on and they could have been awarded a goal in the 29th minute after Ifeanyi Udeze exchanged passes with Daniel Dichio and netted. Some thought the off-side decision had been given against Lee Hughes but Gary Megson reported that it was the Nigerian who had been faulted wrongly.
West Ham, too, were accident prone. When Russell Hoult failed to hold a Michael Carrick shot in the 37th minute, Trevor Sinclair banged the rebound into the ground and onto the crossbar. But seconds before half-time, he collected a pass from Steve Lomas, avoided Darren Moore and found the net with an accurate drive.
And he gave West Ham the lead again in the 68th minute. Hoult's clearance was weak and a Lee Bowyer cross was nodded against the crossbar by Les Ferdinand before Sinclair's header bundled the ball in. The next time the scorer's cranium was applied, it left possession well short of James and the goalkeeper made an inspiring save from Hughes' volley.
There were so many openings that West Brom must be have been aghast to find themselves shut out in the end. Their strength in the air gave them opportunities to bypass the defence and West Ham's vulnerability looked ruinous in the 50th minute when Jason Koumas crossed and Dichio headed in despite a slight touch by James.
West Brom did indeed find it easy to get into prime position. Two minutes after their goal, Dichio set up Hughes for a pivot and shot that was denied by James. Late in the game, James was still foiling the forceful if predictable forwards. Having just come on, Scott Dobie was clean through but his first touch was much too close to a goalkeeper whose reach was as great as the scope of his display.
James, beforehand, had claimed this contest was "as big as any game I've played in".
That assessment might be taken as the formulaic utterance of any footballer in the relegation area, but his feats here made it ring true.
On this occasion the "boing, boing" of the Hawthorns was the sound of James repelling every West Brom effort.
WEST BROM: Hoult, Moore, Gilchrist, Gregan, Adam Chambers, Koumas, Wallwork (Sigurdsson 74), McInnes (Dobie 74), Udeze, Dichio, Hughes. Subs Not Used: Murphy, Lyttle, Clement. Booked: Gregan. Goals: Dichio 50.
WEST HAM: James, Johnson, Repka, Pearce, Brevett, Bowyer (Breen 85), Carrick, Lomas, Sinclair, Les Ferdinand (Hutchison 81), Di Canio (Defoe 49). Subs Not Used: Van Der Gouw, Moncur. Booked: Carrick. Goals: Sinclair 45, 67.
Referee: M Dean (Wirral).
