0-4

Marlon Harewood grabbed a hat-trick as West Ham went seventh in the table with their second win of the season.

The home side dominated early on and Harewood beat Thomas Sorensen after Teddy Sheringham headed the ball on.

It was 2-0 when Anton Ferdinand headed back Matthew Etherington’s corner and Harewood hooked in over Sorensen.

James Milner hit the post at the start of the second half before Harewood profited from a goalkeeping error and Yossi Benayoun completed the rout.

The Hammers were full value for their win after controlling the midfield and, in 39-year-old Sheringham, they had the game’s outstanding player.

After a slow start they pushed forward relentlessly in the first 45 minutes and could have had more than their two goals.

Benayoun shot weakly at Sorensen after a superb Sheringham dummy but it was not long before Harewood - so often criticised for his lack of poise in front of goal - delivered.

On a night when a minute’s silence was held for former Hammers favourite Noel Cantwell, it was not one for the Upton Park purists.

But Harewood, golden boots and all, was not complaining when a long punt from Paul Konchesky ended with him racing in on Sorensen and slotting home calmly.

The Hammers’ superiority was underlined when another period of pressure culminated in the powerful striker hooking the ball over Sorensen and into the net.

Villa, who were content to rely on Baros’ pace on the counter-attack, created little of note apart from a snapshot from Milner which Roy Carroll tipped wide of his near post.

West Ham should have had a penalty just before the break when Liam Ridgewell tried to pull Harewood down as he muscled his way into the area.

Two goalkeeping mistakes at the start of the second half effectively decided the result.

The home side escaped when Roy Carroll completely missed Milner’s cross and it bounced off one post then the other

But at the other end a dreadful error by Sorensen - who completely missed the ball from a corner - allowed Harewood to smash his third into an empty net.

Carroll also looked far from secure in punching away a Milner free-kick and he was all over the place when Gavin McCann’s volley was headed over by Danny Gabbidon.

But Villa looked incapable of taking advantage and boss David O’Leary threw on Juan Pablo Angel and Patrik Berger in a bid to salvage something.

Baros seized on some hesitant defending to force a save from Carroll, but there was precious little else to encourage the visiting fans.

And their misery was complete when the impressive Benayoun fired low across Sorensen from the left side of the box.

*Aston Villa boss David O’Leary:*

“We struggled, end of story. We didn’t handle them defensively and were outmuscled all over the pitch.

“The players know that, they’re an honest bunch and we have to do much better than that - we will do better.

“They played with great hunger and the way I want my teams to play - don’t let people settle, play at a high tempo and get at people. They did that to us.”