CarlingNet - No 1 for Match Reports

West Ham v Blackburn 26/10/96 3.00

West Ham                (0) 2 Blackburn               (1) 1 FT
Porfirio 77                   Berg 9
Berg 85 (og)

West Ham, scoring twice in the last 13 minutes, gained their third home victory in eight days but could consider themselves fortunate to beat a luckless Blackburn at Upton Park.

Blackburn, still without a win in the Premiership this season, went ahead through Henning Berg after only eight minutes after Tim Sherwood had flicked on a corner from Jason Wilcox.

Then, with West Ham seemingly ineffective in front of goal, Rovers defended with great resolution for the next hour.

So resolute, in fact, that they had five men Graeme Le Saux, making his first appearance in 10 months following injury, Tim Sherwood, Graham Fenton, Tim Flowers and Billy McKinley booked for over-anxious tackles.

But West Ham had hardly had a shot of note in the first 70 minutes despite ample possession and Wilcox should have made the game safe for Blackburn when he missed a sitter with only Ludek Miklosko to beat in the 71st minute.

Then, with Paulo Futre having come on as substitute for the injured John Moncur, West Ham exploded into life and in a rousing finish Hugh Porfirio equalised after 77 minutes and Berg became one of those rare players to score for each team when he headed into his own net in trying to clear a centre from Stan Lazaridis six minutes from time.

West Ham's first goal was a minature masterpiece. Julian Dicks sent a superb crossfield, 40-yard pass to Iain Dowie and his short pass inside found Porfirio to score with comfort from less than 10 yards.

So West Ham continue their revival while Blackburn, now with caretaker-manager Tony Parkes in charge following the resignation of manager Ray Harford yesterday, must hope for better fortune in the coming weeks.

Even after West Ham had taken the lead, Blackburn never gave up and forced two successive corners in injury time with the home crowd bleating for the referee to blow his whistle for time.