Carlton Cole's second-half strike earned West Ham a 2-1 victory over a spirited Derby side at Upton Park.

Bobby Zamora made the most of generous Derby defending to head West Ham ahead 20 minutes into the game, and he would have been celebrating a first-half brace had a later effort not been controversially ruled out for offside.

Derby drew level thanks to a cool finish from Tyrone Mears 20 minutes into the second half, but 10 minutes later West Ham got their noses decisively in front when substitute Cole converted Freddie Ljungberg's cross from close range.

The result increases the gap between West Ham and 11th-placed Spurs to five points, while Derby's bid to avoid the worst one-season record in Premier League history looks doomed to failure.

Both sides went into the game looking to turn things around after a series of poor results, and West Ham manager Alan Curbishley took the opportunity to hand starts to youngsters James Tomkins and Freddie Sears.

The home side started the brighter, with Julien Faubert in particular finding plenty of space down the right flank, and after dictating the play for much of the game's opening stages they took the lead on 20 minutes in a manner that will not have pleased Rams boss Paul Jewell.

George McCartney curled in a fairly gentle free-kick from the West Ham right, and with Dean Leacock guilty of getting underneath the ball Zamora headed home unchallenged from close range.

The goal provoked Derby to push forward for the first time in the match, and after half an hour lone striker Kenny Miller went close to equalising when he flicked a right-wing corner over the crossbar with the outside of his right boot.

West Ham should have been 2-0 up when Zamora's cool finish from Mark Noble's through-ball was erroneously ruled out for offside, but they were indebted to Robert Green for a superb reflex save from Robbie Savage's near-post header five minutes before the break.

The visitors made an enterprising start to the second half, with David Jones swinging in a cross from the left that Mile Sterjovski missed by inches after barely 30 seconds.

Scott Parker then flashed a low effort narrowly wide from the edge of the box as West Ham sought to re-assert their first-half supremacy, but the game was beginning to open up and Tyrone Mears was bravely denied by Green after sprinting clear of the Hammers defence.

He did not have to wait long for a second opportunity though, as minutes later he raced onto a pass from Hossam Ghaly before calmly lifting the ball past Green.

With neither side having anything to play for they were both unafraid to commit men forward, and shortly after the equaliser Ljungberg felt he should have been awarded a free-kick for a shirt tug by Robbie Savage as they chased the ball towards the Derby goal.

Fifteen minutes remained when Curbishley introduced Cole from the substitutes bench in place of Sears, and it proved to be a masterstroke.

Within two minutes the Hammers were ahead, Ljungberg exchanging passes with Noble before centring for Cole to volley into the roof of the net from inside the six yard box.

Tom Williams / Eurosport