West Ham United 5 - 3 Burnley

Hammers win in humdinger

Updated: November 28, 2009, 8:10 AM UK

Relegation-battlers West Ham moved clear of the bottom three as Burnley were beaten 5-3 at Upton Park.

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• Zola takes positives from win

Gianfranco Zola's men recorded only their third Premier League win of a difficult campaign after three goals in the first half put them in command.

Jack Collison capitalised on some static defending to race on to Scott Parker's free-kick and fire the Irons ahead on 18 minutes.

Junior Stanislas slotted home a second, before Carlton Cole converted a penalty as Burnley were made to pay for poor defending after what had been a bright start by the visitors when Clarke Carlisle's header was cleared off the line.

It was damage limitation for the Clarets - who have just one point from seven away matches on their return to the top flight - after the hard-working Guillermo Franco headed in a fourth on 51 minutes.

However, there was still time for substitute Luis Jimenez to net another penalty after he was brought down by keeper Brian Jensen to give the Irons a morale boost ahead of next week's visit of champions Manchester United.

Steven Fletcher's late double gave Burnley some consolation, before Steven Caldwell was sent off during stoppage time and Chris Eagles then netted a third.

The visitors had actually started well and West Ham looked nervy at the back as England keeper Robert Green spilled a near-post strike from Andre Bikey and Eagles, the former Manchester United trainee, whipped over a cross from the right which flew through the six-yard box.

The Clarets - who have won five times at Turf Moor, including victory over United - almost took the lead on nine minutes when Clarke Carlisle's downward header from a corner was cleared off the line by Parker.

West Ham were then denied by the woodwork after Franco's header from Collison's cross came off the top of the bar, and eventually took the lead on 18 minutes.

Parker's quickly-taken free-kick caught the Burnley defence cold as Collison beat a static offside trap to run clean through and slot past Jensen.

Before Burnley could recover, West Ham doubled their lead on 34 minutes.

The busy Franco slipped a reserve pass through to Stanislas on the right.

The England Under-21 winger looked to have missed his opportunity when Jensen made a smart save at his near post - only for the Burnley keeper to get his angles all wrong from the rebound, as Stanislas guided the ball inside the far post.

West Ham had a penalty just before the break when Jonathan Spector charged on to Radoslav Kovac's pass and into the right side of the area, before being brought down by Robbie Blake.

Cole - still limping after needing treatment for a foot injury - stepped up to drill in the spot-kick for his seventh goal of the season.

The England striker, who had just come back from injury, was replaced by youngster Zavon Hines for the start of the second half, with West Ham making it 4-0 on 50 minutes.

Stanislas whipped a free-kick from the right across the six-yard box, where Franco got in front of the Burnley defenders to head home.

Burnley substitute David Nugent missed two golden chances in quick succession to pull a goal back for the visitors, before referee Chris Foy pointed to the spot once again after Chile forward Jimenez was brought down by Jensen as he dashed into the right side of the penalty area.

Jimenez, on loan from Inter Milan, stepped up to take the spot-kick himself, and lashed it into the right corner for his first West Ham goal.

To their credit, Burnley kept going - and at least had something to show when Fletcher netted a late double, both after good work from Eagles, whose long-range free-kick then struck the post.

Burnley, though, finished with 10 men when, in stoppage time, Caldwell was shown a straight red for pulling down Hines, before Eagles netted a third.

Zola takes positives from win

West Ham manager Gianfranco Zola was happy to finally enjoy that winning feeling again after watching his relegation-battlers move clear of the bottom three as Burnley were beaten 5-3 at Upton Park.

"It was an entertaining game, although I would have preferred to have conceded fewer goals - but you can't have everything,'' said the Hammers boss. "Right now we are very good coming forward, we just need to keep the balance when we are defending. We switched off too early. But we wanted the three points today, and we have to be happy with that.

"I will take a lot of positives from this game - we scored another five goals. Going forwards we are doing very well. Come on - if we lose it is negative, if we draw it is negative, we score five goals and win, and it is still negative.

"We should be cheering. It has been a great game, and we have scored five goals. We must all enjoy it. We scored more goals than the opposition, and that is the most important thing.

"We know we have to get better in defence, but if you keep watching everything under the microscope, you will always find something wrong. I want to see good things, and we will keep working.''

Zola revealed Cole, who had just come back from injury, was set for a scan on his knee.

"It is too early to say how bad it is. We have to wait a bit to assess him,'' said the West Ham boss, "Hopefully it is not going to be too bad.''

Burnley manager Owen Coyle said: "We were the architects of our own downfall. We gifted some soft goals, and made individual errors at the wrong time. I am loath to criticise officials, because I know how difficult the job is, but there were some big decisions which went against us, like on the second goal when Franco controlled the ball with his arm. Is the third a penalty? I don't know.

"On another day, maybe they will go for us. But at 5-0, it would have been really easy to feel sorry for ourselves and hide. However, they showed tremendous bravery and courage to score some tremendous goals. It was another learning curve for us.

"We need to brush up on the individual mistakes, because you will not get away with it against the quality the Premier League holds. We will take our medicine, continue to work hard and look to get better because we have the players who can pick up points.''