West Ham's iron will fells leaders

West Ham United 2 Newcastle United 0

The destination of the Premiership title, which had begun to appear a formality, was cast into reasonable doubt last night as an ebullient West Ham side inflicted upon the leaders their first League defeat since 27 December.

Despite a hugely promising full debut by their pounds 7.5m Colombian, Faustino Asprilla - who hit the post and might also have had a penalty - the visitors were undone by goals at either end of an enthralling game. With Manchester United taking full advantage of their slip, Newcastle's lead is down to six points with a game in hand.

It is still not a bad margin for Kevin Keegan's side, with 11 games left to play. "I was delighted with the way Asprilla played in his first full game in three months," the Magpies' manager said. "We couldn't have expected anything more of him. He and Les [Ferdinand] are going to be a lethal partnership with one or two fine tunings."

West Ham's manager, Harry Redknapp, added his own high opinion of the Colombian: "He looked what he is, seven million pounds, at times. He did some superb things. It can't be wrong having players like that in the country."

For all that, the outstanding West Ham player was born in Newham - the 22-year-old Danny Williamson, who was outstandingly assured in midfield as his side established their best League run in 10 years with a fifth successive win.

They also, it has to be said, received some assistance from the referee, Paul Alcock of Surrey, who twice turned down first-half penalty appeals on Asprilla's behalf when he appeared to be tripped by Julian Dicks and then tugged by Steve Potts.

Asprilla, long of leg and wearing black gloves, had initially picked his way across the turf like a big cat on new territory. However, once he got the feel of the game, he represented a constant threat, never more so than in the 56th minute when he mesmerised the Croat defender, Slaven Bilic, whose impressive home debut was truncated by a suspected ligament injury, and bent a shot against the post. Aghast, the Colombian crossed himself.

Darren Peacock also hit the woodwork for Newcastle with a fourth-minute header, and, after 70 minutes, Les Ferdinand missed the kind of chance from which he has been scoring all season.

However, there was no denying the exuberance of the home side once Williamson had put them ahead in the fifth minute with a superbly composed low drive after beating Warren Barton to Ian Bishop's through ball. Tony Cottee made it 2-0 nine minutes from full-time after Dicks had headed a corner down into the six-yard box, and Dale Gordon, Cottee's last-minute substitute, was denied a third goal only by Pavel Srnicek's outstretched leg.

"You do have these nights when you don't always get what you deserve," Keegan said. Not too many of them, Newcastle will hope.

West Ham United (3-5-2): Miklosko; Bilic (Harkes, 69), Rieper, Dicks; Potts, Hughes, Bishop, Williamson, Rowland; Cottee (Gordon, 89), Dowie. Substitute not used: Sealey (gk).

Newcastle United (3-5-2): Srnicek; Peacock, Howey, Albert; Barton, Gillespie (Kitson, 80), Beardsley, Clark, Beresford; Ferdinand, Asprilla. Substitutes no used: Elliott, Hislop (gk).

Referee: P Alcock (Surrey).