Premier League: West Ham 2 Wolves 0

Freddie Sears finally broke his goal drought as West Ham beat Wolves 2-0 and moved out of the bottom three for the first time this season.

Sears had not scored since his debut against Blackburn back in March 2008 and went 73 games without a goal following loan spells at Crystal Palace, Coventry and Scunthorpe.

But it was to be a day for the young forward who scored the crucial second goal late in the game to help West Ham move out of the relegation zone and give them a major boost as they look to beat the drop.

Wolves must have sensed it was not going to be their day after Ronald Zubar scored an own goal with his knee and now have it all to do if they are retain their top flight status after falling to the foot of the Premier League table.

Wolves dominated the opening exchanges and could have broke the deadlock on seven minutes.

Stephen Hunt’s corner was cleared off the line by Frederic Piquionne, and Carlton Cole then had to be at his best to stop Sylvain Ebanks-Blake nodding home from close-range.

Wolves continued to create the best chances and came close again on 14 minutes when Stephen Ward broke away down the right hand side and cut inside before firing a low shot which produced a fine save from Robert Green diving low to his left.

Wolves were made to pay for their missed opportunities as West Ham finally broke the deadlock on 52 minutes.

Piquionne broke away down the right and crossed for strike partner Cole who had the easy task of knocking the ball the home from close-range.

Cole made a complete mess of connecting with the ball, but his error completely fooled Zubar and the ball hit the defender’s knee and flew past his own goalkeeper into the corner of the net.

West Ham came within a whisker of doubling their lead on 57 minutes when Parker’s corner fell to Matthew Upson, who saw his powerful header pushed onto the bar by Hennessey.

Wolves were also denied by the woodwork on 77 minutes when Ebanks-Blake’s header came back off the bar.

Sears made them pay on 80 minutes when he got the decisive second goal to seal a vital three points for the east London club.

Tal Ben Haim burst clear down the right and crossed in for Sears who made no mistake from close range.