Queens Park Rangers continued their poor run in the English Premier League, going down to West Ham United 2-1 at Loftus Road.
Matt Jarvis notched his first goal for his new side in the third minute, via a header, as the Hammers took control early on. QPR, who made huge investments in players this summer but are yet to pick up their first win, never really threatened the opposing side's goal in an abject first-half performance.
West Ham deservedly took a two-goal lead, when Ricardo Vaz Te scored with ten minutes remaining in the first half. Substitute Adel Taarabt pulled one back for Mark Hughes' side in the 57th minute courtesy a brilliant long-range strike, but any chance of completing a comeback was scuppered when another substitute Samba Diakite was sent off for a second bookable offense.
Referee Mark Clattenburg showed eleven yellow cards in all in the London Derby, with eight of them given to the visiting side, although Sam Allardyce will not be too worried about that, having picked up all three points. The win takes West Ham to seventh in the table with 11 points, while QPR stay rock bottom on two points.
"It was a great, great victory for us and our first away in the Barclays Premier League this season," Allardyce said. "We showed great character, great spirit and great belief from the team.
"I'm delighted. Against a lot of the odds we still went ahead and won this game and won it a lot more comfortably than the score suggested. To be honest at 2-0 at half time you'd have thought I'd be satisfied but because of the amount of chances we created in the first half I was disappointed it wasn't three.
"I thought Mark Noble, Kevin Nolan and Momo Diame controlled the game for us. All three were the reason why we got so many things going forward. The service that they provide to the wide men was key as it allowed us to create the chances. The goals were two very good finishes as the angles were very acute. We had easier chances than them and missed them."
Mark Hughes felt his side produced a much improved second half, but felt the red card of Diakite rendered a comeback impossible. "We didn't start the game at all well and the first half display in general was desperately disappointing," Hughes told the club's official website.
"It wasn't anywhere near the level we know we are capable of. We gave them far too much time on the ball to show the strength and power that they've got in their side. They were good value for their two goal advantage at the break.
"To be fair to the lads, the second half was better and Adel scored a fantastic goal to get us back into the game and at that point I thought we had a lot of momentum.
"Unfortunately the sending off really set us back."
Hughes felt the sending off was a little harsh. "I can accept they were two fouls by Samba, but whether they both warranted yellow cards and the subsequent red is debatable," he added.
"I think it was a bit harsh on the boy, but that's what we seem to be up against at the moment.
"Things aren't going our way at the minute. The beauty of the Premier League is that the games come around fairly quickly, so we've got the opportunity to put things right on Saturday against West Brom."
