QPR are still searching for their first Premier League win of the season as West Ham heaped more misery on their London rivals with a narrow win at Loftus Road.
The R’s, who had Samba Diakite sent off in the second half, remain at the foot of the table after losing their fourth game of the campaign as the pressure continues to build on Mark Hughes’ shoulders.
In the opposite dugout Sam Allardyce will be delighted that his side managed to cling on to record their first away win victory and send them up into the heady heights of seventh and just a point outside of a Champions League place.
Allardyce was boosted by the return of on-loan striker Andy Carroll to the substitutes bench following his injury lay-off and also handed record signing Matt Jarvis a second start following his £10.5 million move from Wolves and it was the winger that opened the scoring.
Just three minutes had elapsed when Ricardo Vaz Te skipped past a weak Clint Hill challenge on the right and cut the ball back for Kevin Nolan to cross for Jarvis who headed in at the far post. Bobby Zamora then fired over for the home side and Djibril Cisse drew a superb save from Jussi Jaaskelainen as they chased an equaliser.
But West Ham were by far the better team and doubled their advantage through Vaz Te as he fired home from close range 10 minutes before half time following a goalmouth scramble. Whatever Hughes said at half time had a marked effect as substitute Adel Taarabt halved the deficit just a minute after coming on, smashing a stunning long range drive into the top corner past the despairing Jaaskelainen.
However Diakite’s red card with 15 minutes left ended any hope of a comeback for QPR as West Ham held on.