The Brazilian striker Ilan followed up his point-saving goal at Everton last week by grabbing a second-half winner against Sunderland this afternoon to bolster West Ham’s hopes of avoiding relegation. Gianfranco Zola’s team climbed above Wigan and are now four points above the drop zone.

Throughout this campaign West Ham have tended to begin matches briskly before fading feebly but here it was the opposite as the visitors started the stronger. Timid West Ham defending allowed a Steed Malbranque corner to curl across the face of goal in the ninth minute, Frazier Campbell narrowly failing to apply a decisive touch. Six minutes later Darren Bent peeled off Manuel Da Costa to collect a Lee Cattermole pass but, mercifully for Rob Green, his lob over the keeper dropped on to the roof of the net.

Valon Behrami produced West Ham’s first effort of a guileless game a minute later, a snap shot from 25 yards that drew a solid one-handed save from Craig Gordon.

Gordon looked less clever in the 35th minute when he prevented Carlton Cole from tracking down a through ball by handling just outside the box. The goalkeeper then sabotaged West Ham’s attempt to take the free-kick quickly, yet still the referee, Mike Jones – the man who awarded Sunderland a goal against Liverpool earlier this season after Bent’s shot deflected off a beach ball – showed only a yellow card. Perhaps the sense of injustice rallied the hosts because moments later they forged their best chance so far. However, after strong work by Cole, Kieran Richardson blocked Ilan’s shot in extremis.

Gordon benefited from another dubious decision two minutes later when he rugby-tackled Cole after spilling the ball during an aerial challenge. The referee was seemingly one of the few people in the stadium who considered that the striker had fouled the goalkeeper first.

West Ham gained vengeance in the 51st minute. Manuel Da Costa launched a long diagonal free-kick into the box, Cole held off Michael Turner and nodded down to Ilan, who poked the ball past Gordon and into the net from seven yards.

Sunderland reacted well. The cutting move they pieced together in the 58th minute was the best of the match, Malbranque and Bent swapping passes before the latter laid the ball back to Cattermole, who arrived at speed but slammed wide from 14 yards.

Steve Bruce rejigged his team and introduced Kenwyne Jones in the 63rd minute and with his first touch the new arrival split the home defence and served a wonderful opportunity to Bent, who hardly embellished his England credentials by falling over as he wound up to shoot.

Green, by contrast, will hope Fabio Capello sees footage of his save in the 76th minute when he displayed rapid reflexes and strong wrists to beat away a free kick from Jordan Henderson, who had initially shaped to cross. In the dying minutes Bruce thrust another attacker, Benjani Mwaruwari, into the fray and switched to a two-men defence but West Ham held firm, and even thought they had enhanced their lead in the closing seconds when Guillermo Franco shot into the net from 12 yards but the referee – correctly – ruled that the striker had first controlled the ball with his arm.

Premier LeagueWest Ham UnitedSunderlandPaul Doyleguardian.co.uk

For West Ham the ghost of relegation may finally be starting to fade after a fourth successive clean sheet at home, and a second successive win. That it came against another of the sides battling at the bottom of the Premier League will only make the victory taste sweeter, but the reality is that despite being a goal up for almost the entire game, a man up for nearly half of it and two men to the good by the end, the home side were still far from convincing.

Carlton Cole’s goal, the second of the game, came from what was by some distance the best move of the match, even if it consisted of just a single pass – Julien Faubert’s superbly weighted through-ball – and a smart, calm clipped finish. People will also talk of a 70th-minute shot from inside his own half by the frequently frustrating Alessandro Diamanti which drew a save from Boaz Myhill, though it would almost certainly have missed the target had he left it. The performance from the home side was adequate, and no more.

Hull’s was considerably less. Thirteen league games now without a win and soon to celebrate, if that’s the right word, the first anniversary of their last success away from home, the visitors played pretty much to form throughout and a series of miserable gaffes started in just the third minute. Tom Cairney surrendered possession to Valon Behrami, who passed to Guillermo Franco. The Mexican, making his first appearance of 2010, miscontrolled so badly that the ball bobbled perfectly into the path of Behrami, who scored with ease from 15 yards.

Myhill made two decent saves in the first half, both also from Behrami and the second, after the midfielder headed Diamanti’s cross from close range, quite excellent. Then seven minutes into the second half Craig Fagan, already booked for fouling Scott Parker, gave the slightest tug to Diamanti’s shirt, the Italian tumbled theatrically and Hull were down to 10 men.

Shortly after the second goal they made a triple substitution, always something of a calculated risk. It didn’t work out well: although one of the new players, Jozy Altidore, missed a decent chance in the 74th minute it left them with no further options when their captain, Anthony Gardner, fell awkwardly in the 81st minute. He was carried off on a stretcher, left leg heavily strapped, and Hull ended the game with nine men.

Their numerical disadvantage might explain the third goal, when Faubert collected Radoslav Kovac’s pass, ran into the area without the merest hint of a challenge and thumped a shot into the top left corner. A miserable end to another miserable Hull performance

West Ham UnitedHull CityPremier LeagueSimon Burntonguardian.co.uk