Samassi Abou inspired West Ham to their ninth home Premiership win of the
season with embarrassing ease to leave hapless Barnsley rooted to the foot of
the table.
The Yorkshire club's only ever win at Upton Park was back in 1919 on their
maiden visit to east London.
But they were never likely to match that achievement from the moment Frank
Lamard Jnr put the home side in front with just five minutes gone.
The Hammers forced three corners in quick succession before David Unsworth
delivered the perfect cross for Lampard to rise to head his eighth goal of the
season.
And the game then belonged to Abou, who ensured the match was effectively over
as a contest before half an hour had gone thanks to his second goal in five
days.
Abou, who scored in the Coca-Cola Cup defeat by Arsenal, latched on to John
Hartson's flick on to shrug off two defenders and beat the unfortunate David
Watson from 12 yards.
Watson, in fact, had been Barnsley's best player and was almost
single-handedly keeping the score respectable.
But there was little he could do about the rest of the West Ham goals as Abou,
a £400,000 signing from Cannes, netted his second after 52 minutes.
John Moncur's cross found Abou in space in the area, his flick to John Hartson
came straight back to him and he ran on to flick the ball over the advancing
Watson.
Abou then turned provider to set up John Moncur and Hartson to rub salt into
Barnsley's wounds.
His delightful one-two with Moncur sent the substitute racing clear to calmly
beat Watson with a left-foot chip into the far corner.
And then Abou's clever flick across the edge of the area found Hartson free to
lash a first-time shot past Watson.
It was then Hartson's turn to become provider, this time playing in Stan
Lazaridis to make it 6-0 and complete a disheartening afternoon for the Barnsley
faithful.
It was most harsh on Watson, who had been the visitor's best performer and
still came away on the end of a hammering.
After seven minutes he made his sole mistake of the first half, dropping Eyal
Berkovic's cross at the feet of Lampard, but he instantly made amends with a
reflex save from the midfielder's shot.
Abou then went close with a blistering drive that flew over the bar before
Watson produced undoubtedly one of the saves of the season.
Lazaridis' corner came out to Andy Impey on the edge of the area and his
deflected drive was heading for the corner before Watson, who must have seen it
very late, flung himself to the right to tip the ball over.
Barnsley did create a few scares in the home defence, most notably when
Hristov was given a free header from Darren Barnard's cross.
The Hammers defence appealed in vain for offside and were glad to see
Hristov's header aimed straight at keeper Craig Forrest, who saved well at his
feet.
Barnsley started the second half brightly, Ashley Ward going close with a
header from substitute Clint Marcelle's cross.
But any remote hopes they had of a comeback were dashed with two goals in five
minutes from a rampant West Ham.
Moncur's cross found Abou in space in the area, his flick to Hartson was
instantly returned and the bargain buy from Cannes ran on to flick his second
over Watson.
And on 57 minutes Abou played a delightful one-two with Moncur to set the
substitute clear to finish left-footed to make it 4-0 and threaten a rout.
It duly arrived through Hartson and Lazaridis and Barnsley's nightmare was
complete.
The home fans chanted "You're going down with Tottenham" long before the
finish and it was hard to disagree after this display.
Barnsley were simply run ragged by a West Ham side who looked likely to score
from almost every attack.
Danny Wilson's desperation was summed up by a double substitution after just
31 minutes but there was nothing his players could do to stem the tide.
Teams:
West Ham: Forrest, Unsworth, Pearce, Ferdinand, Lazaridis,
Impey (Moncur 31), Lampard, Berkovic (Alves 77), Potts, Hartson,
Abou.
Subs Not Used: Lama, Rowland, Bishop.
Booked: Moncur.
Goals: Lampard 5, Abou 31, 52, Moncur 57, Hartson 67,
Lazaridis 90.
Barnsley: Watson, Eaden, Appleby (Markstedt 31), Sheridan,
Redfearn, Tinkler, Hristov (Hendrie 73), Krizan (Marcelle 31),
Barnard, Ward, Morgan.
Subs Not Used: Liddell, Bosancic.
Booked: Barnard.
Att: 23,714
Ref: N S Barry (Scunthorpe).
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