West Ham United Vs. Blackburn Rovers: 1-0 Blackburn At Halftime

Blackburn Rovers lead West Ham United by 1-0 at Upton Park after a twelfth minute goal by Jason Roberts. With West Ham desperately needing all three points to have even the slightest hope of avoiding relegation, it wasn't an idieal start, and they made matters worse for themselves by playing extremely sloppy football at both ends of the pitch, preferring to sling in (terribly struck) long balls than make intelligent decisions with short passes.

They did, however, have a minor resurgence towards the end of the half, coming after a mistake by Chris Samba in an aerial battle for Carlton Cole. Just why this was the impetus for West Ham to come at their visitors with pace, power and no little threat isn't entirely clear, but they did look much more dangerous in the final few minutes and gave goalkeeper Paul Robinson a few scares. Still, they need at least two goals today, or the Championship is calling.