A 75th-minute goal by Trevor Sinclair was enough to give West Ham victory over Dublin side St Patrick's Athletic in a friendly at Richmond Park.

The Hammers looked dangerous early on with new French signing Freddie Kanoute particularly impressive.

After just five minutes Kanoute made a great burst down the left and then sent over a low cross to present an opening for Frank Lampard. But his shot was parried by former Cardiff keeper Seamus Kelly.

Joe Cole, back for the first time in four months after injury, then had a shot straight at the keeper before Kanoute twice tested the St Pat's defence with long-range efforts that went just wide of the target.

The Dublin club went close to grabbing a shock lead on 63 minutes after a neat interchange between midfielders Barry Prenderville and Martin Russell.

Seeing his opportunity Prenderville let fly from 22 yards only to see his shot strike the crossbar and over to safety.

A streaker invaded the pitch on 69 minutes much to the amusement of the 5000 crowd.

But his ardour was cooled when Hammers' boss Harry Redknapp sprinkled him with a can of water before security officers escorted him out of the stadium.

Sinclair's goal came after a foul on Cole. His 22-yard free-kick took a nasty deflection off the wall to give keeper Kelly no chance.