Brooking rallies West Ham to keep survival hopes alive

Trevor Brooking cut an animated figure – now there's a phrase you never thought you would hear – as Frédéric Kanouté's 81st-minute tap-in brought West Ham a potentially priceless win in their first game under the phlegmatic television pundit-turned-interim manager.

Exchanging the relative calm of the studio couch for the hurly-burly of Maine Road's technical area, a suited and booted Brooking punched the air after Kanouté pounced to touch in the loose ball after Don Hutchison had turned a cross by Joe Cole against the post.

If ever a triumph was carved out of adversity, this was it: having seen their regular manager, Glenn Roeder, hospitalised by a stroke six days earlier, West Ham lost Les Ferdinand with a suspected broken leg following a collision with City's Peter Schmeichel.

In the past – during Brooking's playmaking pomp, dare one say it – West Ham might have faded and died when confronted by such misfortunes. Not this team. They have now collected 18 points from nine Premiership matches, the kind of form that may yet spring them out of the relegation zone. Bolton and Leeds, and to a lesser extent Fulham and Aston Villa, must view their recovery with alarm.

"I can imagine their groans when they heard we had scored," said the 54-year-old Brooking, his voice hoarse. "Those clubs will be looking over their shoulders. It's still out of our hands, but it's nice to apply some pressure."

West Ham can exert more next Saturday by beating Chelsea in a 3pm kick-off, although Steve Lomas will miss that match and the final fixture at Birmingham City after aggravating an ankle injury.

Victory over their London rivals would take them out of the bottom three, at least until Bolton face Southampton at 5.30. "If we beat Chelsea," Brooking said, "we'll be right in the thick of it. It's been a tough week, but this win keeps everything bubbling along."

The praise, he suggested, should go to Roeder, who had restored morale sufficiently for them to beat Middlesbrough last Monday, 48 hours after the shattering loss at Bolton, and also "mapped out the week". There were indications, he added, that Roeder had made "a little progress", with his wife Faith sending the team his best wishes.

Brooking, a non-executive director of West Ham, admitted that being in the dug-out had been an eye-opener, some 19 years after he retired as a player. "Up in the stand you can see the angles you can't see at ground-level. It's just a sea of bodies. It makes you appreciate all the responsibilities managers have."

He was not tempted to try his hand at management, believing the next two weeks would be "pressure enough". At one point, after Jermain Defoe had a shot headed off the line by Niclas Jensen, his head went in his hands. Later, he strayed into the technical area occupied by his friend and former England colleague, Kevin Keegan, before being gently ushered back by the fourth official.

But he also showed astute judgement, withdrawing Edouard Cissé after an ineffectual first half and introducing Kanouté in a three-man attack in the knowledge that one point would be of little use. The plan was soon scuppered by Ferdinand's injury, sustained as he and Schmeichel lunged for a loose ball together. "That's a big blow," said Brooking. "Les has been immense since he arrived in January, off the pitch as well as on it with his presence and attitude."

The most striking improvement, however, has been in West Ham's defence. Glen Johnson and Rufus Brevett were outstanding at full-back and Tomas Repka eschewed his tendency to make critical errors. They needed to be at their best during a first half in which City repeatedly poured forward, never more so than when Brevett cleared off the line as Robbie Fowler tried to head the ball over at goalline-snorting level.

City, for whom Ali Benarbia gave a passable impersonation of Brooking the player and Nicolas Anelka was dangerous cutting in from wide, could not make their pressure pay in the penultimate game before they move to the Commonwealth Stadium. Shaun Wright-Phillips personified their performance, brimming with bright ideas but delivering no end-product.

Handy opponents, in other words, for a team in West Ham's position. Was Keegan just a tad pleased for his old cohort? "No – why should I be? I love Trevor to bits, and wish him all the luck in the world. But he'll think management is easy now. If he retired with a 100 per cent record, he'd get manager of the month ahead of Fergie."

Brooking, joked Keegan, had been "a nightmare" on the bench, frequently jumping up to appeal for fouls. "Everybody has got passion and emotion in them," the City manager said. "It just comes out in different ways – though I never heard Trevor swear."

Goal: Kanouté (81) 0-1.

Manchester City (4-4-2): Schmeichel 5; Dunne 5, Sommeil 6, Distin 6, Jensen 6 (Goater, 87); Benarbia 7 (Belmadi 4, 71), Foé 6, Barton 6, Wright-Phillips 7; Anelka 7, Fowler 3 (Macken 4, 71). Substitutes not used: Bischoff, Nash (gk).

West Ham United (4-4-2): James 5; Johnson 8, Repka 7, Pearce 6 (Dailly, 85), Brevett 7; Sinclair 6, Lomas 6, Cissé 4 (Kanouté 6, h-t), Cole 6; Ferdinand 6 (Hutchison 6, 54), Defoe 7. Substitutes not used: Garcia, Van der Gouw (gk).

Referee: R Styles (Waterlooville) 5.

Bookings: Manchester City: Sommeil. West Ham: Defoe.

Man of the match: Johnson.

Attendance: 34,815.