Charlton dish out a hammering (From This Is Local London)

Charlton dish out a hammering

1:19pm Monday 26th February 2007 in Charlton Match Reports By Michael Reilly

Charlton Athletic 4 v 0 West Ham United

Barclays Premiership

For more pictures, click on Charlton pictures

CHARLTON took all three points in a 4-0 demolition of West Ham at The Valley.

The Addicks gave former boss Alan Curbishley's side a hammering in the London derby to move three points clear of second-bottom West Ham.

Charlton started the game as they meant to go on and showed a lot of early promise.

They went 1-0 up on 24 minutes when Marcus Bent broke free down the right-hand side and whipped the ball across the box for Ambrose to finish.

Ten minutes later, Jerome Thomas picked up the ball just inside the Hammers' half and embarked upon a ferocious drive towards the West Ham goal.

As he entered the box, he side-stepped Calum Davenport and fired a left-footed shot into the bottom left-hand corner of the goal across Robert Green to make it 2-0.

Charlton looked sharp and displayed confidence in their passing and added insult to injury by scoring a third time before the interval.

Darren Bent was played through by Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink on 41 minutes and calmly slotted the ball home making it 3-0, humiliating West Ham's defence in the process.

In the second-half, Charlton started brightly again and Hasselbaink nearly made it 4-0 when his 25-yard drive struck the foot of the post.

West Ham's fate was well and truly sealed in the 80th minute when Thomas met Ambrose's cross on the penalty spot and guided the ball home for 4-0.

Chinese international Zheng Zhi nearly made it 5-0 by heading the ball against the bar in the 91st minute.

If Charlton can bring this degree of passion, urgency and entertainment to their next Premiership meeting against Watford they have every chance of staying up.

Boss Alan Pardew said: "I wasn't too bothered about our performance today, it was the win that was important, but we got both so that's a bonus.

"It wasn't about me or Curbs, it was about the two clubs and our performance today was outstanding.

"We've set our standards for the rest of the season with this win."

West Ham manager Alan Curbishley said he was as devastated as the fans are.

He said: "We just can't get any lift-off.

"We created a bit more second half but the game was over by then.

"The question is are we going down with a fight or a whimper.

"There are 10 games left, lots of points at stake."

MATCH FACTS:

CHARLTON: Carson (6), Young (6), El Karkouri (5), Diawara (6), Thatcher (6), Ambrose (7), Holland (6), Song (7) (Faye, 85), Thomas (7), M Bent (5) (Hasselbaink, 35), D Bent (Zheng, 82).

SUBS NOT USED: Randolph, Rommedahl.

ATT: 27,111.