The home side took the lead when a suicidal back pass from Michael Hughes left Cedric Berthelin stranded and Jermaine Defoe cooley rounded the keeper and fired into an empty net. The game was put out of Palace's reach when Neil Mellor planted a far post header past Berthelin just after the half hour mark. The second period brought little change to a Palace side which looked low on confidence. Borrowdale came on for Smith and Routledge replaced Shipperley, but the subs made little impact. Mellor rounded off the scoring when he tapped home from 3 yards, completely unmarked, with the Palace defenders appealing in vain for offside. Palace had precious few scoring opportunities, but Hughes, Shipperley and Freedman did have a few half chances, but these apart the attack lacked penetration, and to be honest, never looked like breaking down the Hammers defence. Things could have been worse as Defoe hit a post with the keeper hopelessly beaten. Palace have now stretched their winless run to 7 games, 5 of which have ended in defeat, and speculation continues to surround the position of manager Steve Kember in the wake of this abysmal run of form.
Saturday's match at home to Cardiff, with the free scoring Robert Earnshaw, will provide a tough test for Palace, and if they fail to come through it, then Chairman Simon Jordan may signal the end of Kember's short tenure.