Blackburn 0 West Ham 1:This was a victory that may prove pivotal for West Ham in what is sure to be an almighty scramble for both European football and English Premier League security next year.

Defeat would have left them peering anxiously over their shoulders, but Dean Ashton's second-half strike lifted Alan Curbishley's side into the top half of the table, and will have filled them with confidence before this week's two matches against Everton in the quarter-finals of the English League Cup and then the league.

For Blackburn Rovers, it was their second defeat in a sequence of three home matches, and Mark Hughes will regard it as a squandered opportunity to have consolidated his team's place in the top 10.

Ashton, who had been out with a hamstring injury for five weeks, had replaced Matthew Etherington at half-time, with Luis Boa Morte switching to the left where he was so much more effective.

The former Crewe striker has had more than his fair share of injury problems, twice missing out on chances of playing for England, and his entry proved what an important player he is to West Ham, and could be for his country. With him leading the attack they were transformed, and Blackburn undone.

That said, Rovers created enough late chances to have at least drawn and possibly won.Christmas could have come early for Roque Santa Cruz, though Hughes might have pondered that a reindeer would have done a better job with the wonderfully perceptive little pass from Tugay Kerimoglu that the Paraguayan controlled with consummate skill and then hoofed hopelessly over the bar.

Before that he had headed wide from a corner, while with minutes remaining Tugay forced Robert Green into an excellent leaping save with a long-range shot that might well have beaten lesser goalkeepers.

"England's, England's number one," chorused the West Ham fans, and with considerable justification. All in all it was an excellent afternoon for them and their team, which might have been made just a little more comfortable had Ashton not missed towards the end.

Andre Ooijer had pulled up suddenly, leaving Carlton Cole in the clear. His pass to Ashton was perfect, but on this occasion the striker, with Brett Emerton rushing in, lifted his shot over the bar. By contrast, his 53rd-minute strike had been totally conclusive.

George McCartney had found space on the left and when Ooijer was caught off balance and stretching with no hope of an interception, Ashton side-footed home.