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West Ham hammer struggling Birmingham

West Ham moved into the top six of the English Premiership with an emphatic 3-0 victory over relegation-haunted Birmingham at Upton Park on Monday night for their seventh consecutive victory in all competitions.

A goal in each half from Marlon Harewood, and a third from Dean Ashton, heaped more misery on Birmingham boss Steve Bruce. Bruce's side remain entrenched in the danger zone at the foot of the table some six points adrift of safety.

"We've got to show a bit more resilience than we did tonight. We are in a relegation scrap," Bruce told Sky Sports afterwards.

West Ham manager Alan Pardew said: "Whatever anybody says to us now it's been a good season. The players have been absolutely brilliant and deserve all the accolades they get," adding: "These players are young and hungry."

And as far as ambitions for the rest of the season, Pardew added: "We want to worry the big boys and we are making some strides towards that."

Harewood's first came when he was quickest to react to a lucky bounce off defender Kenny Cunningham in the 11th minute but no more goals were added in the first half.

West Ham, clearly mindful of the lackluster way they had finished the opening 45 minutes, upped the pace once again from the restart. But it took until just after the hour mark for Harewood's second to come.

It arrived when he followed up his own saved penalty after a handball by Martin Latka.

Dean Ashton promptly added a third a couple of minutes later to wrap up another comfortable win.
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