West Ham show progress with comprehensive win over makeshift Hull

At the interval, as the Upton Park crowd booed and torpor reigned supreme, it was easy to think of the same fixture last season. Back in March West Ham United beat 10-man Hull City but the dissatisfaction at the performance was so strong that they were jeered by the home support at half-time and full-time. A disbelieving Sam Allardyce infamously cupped his hand to his ear in the face of the criticism.

The club is happier these days and this result seemed an appropriate barometer of the progress. Though the team were dismal in the opening 45 minutes, they showed character and quality to respond with three well-taken goals which deepened the woes of Steve Bruce and Hull.

The stellar moment was provided by the substitute Morgan Amalfitano who took Enner Valencia’s pass and, one-on-one with the goalkeeper Allan McGregor, executed a glorious dinked finish. Andy Carroll had unlocked the stalemate and, when Stewart Downing ran on to Alex Song’s through-ball to score the third, Hull had that familiar sinking feeling. They have lost 10 of their last 14 matches.

Hull had shaded the first half and Bruce felt that, with better final passes, they might have been able to count between six and eight chances. That was a bit of an exaggeration but there was no doubting the clarity of Ahmed Elmohamady’s early chance, which he blew wastefully.

Allardyce changed things at half-time, switching to a diamond midfield and telling his players to get the ball forward more quickly. “All this tippy-tappy stuff everyone keeps going on about as being the right way to play football – it’s all a load of old bollocks sometimes,” the West Ham manager said.

What was alarming was how Hull caved in after Carroll’s goal. They have a two-week break before their next game – at home to Newcastle – and it is plain Bruce has a job on his hands to stop the slide.

Allardyce described West Ham’s first-half showing as “lethargic” and their passing as being as poor as he had seen it all season. He put the slow start down to a hangover from last Tuesday’s penalty shootout win over Everton in the FA Cup and they were lucky not to concede here.

Elmohamady’s opportunity was the sort that relegation-threatened teams have to take and, when he dragged it wide from Sone Aluko’s low cut-back, it always seemed Hull would regret it. They had other first-half flickers, with Aluko skipping into the area on a couple of occasions. On the second he ought to have shot, rather than pass to Jake Livermore, who was crowded out.

It was thud and blunder, with West Ham edging it in the first-half error stakes. Adrián cleared straight to David Meyler, almost presenting him with a chance, and the home crowd growled when first Mark Noble and Valencia and later Carroll and Aaron Cresswell banged into each other.

West Ham almost pinched the lead in the 42nd minute when Valencia looped a header against the bar and James Tomkins forced McGregor to save after the ball had been recycled. But it was a different game after the break, with Allardyce’s team tweaked and more dynamic. Kevin Nolan lashed over the bar from the edge of the box after Downing’s cross before Carroll supplied the breakthrough. McGregor will not enjoy the inquest and nor will Curtis Davies. Valencia’s shot from 25 yards was well struck but the goalkeeper appeared to be in the right position only to bat the ball back out centrally. Carroll reacted more quickly than Davies to tap home his fifth of an injury-truncated season.

Bruce lost James Chester and Alex Bruce to a dislocated shoulder and thigh strain respectively and, as he held back his third substitution early in the second half, he briefly pushed the centre-half Harry Maguire up as a makeshift centre-forward. He moved him back when he introduced Yannick Sagbo up front and it was just in time for Maguire to be one of those giving forlorn chase to Downing on the third goal.

Valencia had almost capitalised on a dreadful Michael Dawson pass at 1-0 and Nolan was denied by the post late on. The reality for Hull was that it could have been worse. Allardyce said the home crowd had been “caught cold” during the first half after the elation of the win over Everton. There were hearty cheers from them at full-time.

Man of the match Enner Valencia (West Ham United)