West Ham 3-0 Middlesbrough

	West Ham 3 - 0 Middlesbrough 46' Lee Bowyer 1 - 0 51' Luke Young (og) 2 - 0 62' Dean Ashton 3 - 0
3		0

Dean Ashton put his injury nightmare behind him with his first goal in 16 months as West Ham roared to their first home win of the season against Middlesbrough.

The 23-year-old striker added to second-half goals from Lee Bowyer and Luke Young's own-goal as the Hammers secured back-to-back 3-0 successes.

Ashton, who missed all of last season with a broken ankle, last found the net in the 2006 FA Cup final, but he was on hand to finish a flowing 62nd-minute move to put the gloss on a fine performance from the hosts.

For Boro, Jeremie Aliadiere hit a post and Tuncay Sanli rattled the crossbar, but despite being on top for periods of the first half, the visitors were simply blown away after the interval.

West Ham, with James Collins recalled to the defence in place of Anton Ferdinand in the only change to the side which beat Reading 3-0, were on top from the start.

Matthew Etherington, the two-goal hero at the Madjeski Stadium, was quickly into the action with an early cross which was cleared by George Boateng, before Bowyer burst through the midfield, only to be halted by ex-Leeds team-mate Jonathan Woodgate on the edge of the area.

Collins then headed harmlessly wide from Etherington's corner and Mark Noble linked well with Ashton before hitting a 20-yard shot which was deflected the wrong side of the post.

Ashton this week admitted he was out to catch the eye of England manager Steve McClaren, and with his bright red boots and bleached blond hair, he was hard to miss.

And the striker had the ball in the net after 12 minutes, only to be denied by a linesman's flag after he had latched on to Craig Bellamy's through-ball.

Boro almost broke the deadlock with their first attack in the 18th minute when Mido skilfully turned and sent Aliadiere racing clean through, but the Frenchman's shot hit Robert Green's left-hand post.

Bellamy's afternoon came to a premature end in the 26th minute when the in-form Wales striker pulled up sharply and was replaced by Carlton Cole.

Boro also had to reshuffle their strikeforce when former Hammers loan player Aliadiere limped off, with Tuncay coming on.

He almost had an instant impact when he sprung West Ham's offside trap and crossed towards the unmarked Stewart Downing, but Green dived forward to clear the danger.

Noble fizzed a shot narrowly wide with Mark Schwarzer in no-man's land in stoppage time at the end of the first half.

The Hammers had to wait just 25 seconds after the break to find the net, when Bowyer started and finished a swift move.

The midfielder headed the ball infield to Hayden Mullins and sprinted forward to get on to Cole's one-touch pass and dispatch the ball confidently past Schwarzer for his second goal of the season.

And five minutes later the hosts doubled their advantage when Cole shrugged off the attentions of Downing and aimed a precise angled pass towards Mullins, only for Luke Young to steer the ball past Schwarzer with his out-stretched right boot.

Boro should have pulled one back just before the hour when Julio Arca's long ball sent Tuncay clear.

Green came charging out to narrow the angle and Tuncay lobbed the ball over the Hammers keeper, only to see it bounce off the top of the crossbar.

Tuncay was then put through by Mido, with Collins and Matthew Upson suddenly playing like strangers, but Green pulled off a fine save at his near post.

Ashton's big moment came two minutes later, again courtesy of another superb flowing move.

Mullins swept the ball out left to Etherington, who skipped past Young and crossed for Ashton to tuck home at the far post to prompt rapturous celebrations from fans and players.

Tuncay was left red-faced when put clean through again, this time opting to shoot low past Green, only to see his effort roll tamely wide of a gaping net.

His afternoon was summed up when his shot from 16 yards was cleared off the line by Lucas Neill.

Ashton left the field to a standing ovation 10 minutes from time to be replaced by Freddie Ljungberg, who has been out since the opening-day loss to Manchester City, a result which now seems light years away.

Cole should have capped his rare appearance with a goal at the death after being played in by Ljungberg, but got stage fright in front of goal and shot horribly wide, before Schwarzer saved well from Bowyer in stoppage time.

Source: Soccernet.com