When a player of Steve Claridge's experience and knowledge of the game speaks, he is well worth listening to.

He has only been with Albion since last Wednesday, yet Claridge has already noticed something which makes the Seagulls different from the nine other League clubs he has served in a 20-year career.

"It's probably the first place I have been to where the side has not been doing that well and there is still a super team spirit," he said. "There is a real togetherness about the club and that augurs well for the future."

Claridge, signed for a month, wants to stay until the end of the season, by which time he is convinced Albion will have preserved their Championship status.

"Definitely," he said. "I don't see any reason why not, because of the honesty and workrate of the side and because there is a real togetherness."

This remarkable result, off the back of a hat-trick of defeats, has done a power of good to the Seagulls' survival prospects.

They are up three places to 18th, seven points clear of the relegation zone, after defeats on Saturday for each of the six teams now below them.

The qualities identified by Claridge were evident in abundance at Upton Park but a considerable slice of the credit also goes to manager Mark McGhee for what was, as much as anything, a triumph of tactics.

He changed the emphasis from the more gung-ho approach adopted in the previous away defeats at Sunderland and Derby. The aim this time was trying not to lose, instead of trying to win.

Even the players were surprised when McGhee left out Darren Currie and Leon Knight, recalled Charlie Oatway and Richard Carpenter in a 3-5-2.

Goalscoring hero Guy Butters revealed: "We didn't know who was actually playing until we were in the changing room. We were all looking around as if to say Leon's not playing, Darren Currie's not playing', but fair play to him, it worked. That's what he (McGhee) gets paid for and he has come up trumps."

Hatching a plan is one thing, carrying it out successfully is the tricky bit.

Claridge, making his first League appearance for 20 months, said: "It's a tough place to come to. To be fair to the gaffer, he said before the start of the game we would be put under a lot of pressure, but the script was to defend well, retain possession as long as we could when we had the ball to frustrate them, then hopefully nick something from a dead ball situation as the game wore on. That is exactly the way it happened."

McGhee agonised over leaving out set piece expert Currie, who was desperate to play against the club where he began his career. How ironic then that Albion won the game via a well-worked free-kick, needlessly conceded by Tomas Repka.

Carpenter received the ball back from Claridge and delivered a cross which Butters headed past Stephen Bywater, his second goal of the season and first in the League.

Butters said: "A lot of the lads were giving 'Chippy' a bit of stick for not getting it straight into the box, but it was a great ball in and all it took was for me to get my head on it. It was a great performance by the lads. We are chuffed to bits."

There were heroes all over the pitch for Albion as they became only the second team, in succession to leaders Wigan, to beat West Ham at home this season.

Adam Hinshelwood responded to his omission from the England under-21 squad with an outstanding display at the back alongside Butters and Danny Cullip, Carpenter had his most effective match of the season next to the ever-impressive Alexis Nicolas and Claridge ran his rolled down socks off.

"It was fantastic," said Claridge, back in more exalted company after 16 months as player-manager of Weymouth. "I loved every minute. It was just so nice to be back. I've missed it.

"With all due respect, this is where I've played most of my career and it was everything I thought it would be. I've been away for over a year and I've not played for five weeks, so I will get sharper and fitter.

"I was a little bit disappointed once or twice with my retention of the ball in the first half but it has been a while since I've played and I've just come back from quite a bad injury.

"I never felt after the first half-hour that we were in any real danger. Every time they played it forward we dealt with it comfortably.

"Chippy put a great ball in and I thought that was the difference between the sides. When things went into our box we cleared it, when the ball went into their box Guy got on the end of it."

West Ham were at their most dangerous in the opening 20 minutes when Marlon Harewood hit a post and they were getting in behind the Albion defence. Despite dominating throughout, Alan Pardew's under-achievers became progressively more desperate, launching balls towards the edge of the box which were much easier to deal with.

A total of 15 attempts at goal but only three on target told the story. Albion had one effort on target and made it count.

Their fourth and best 1-0 away win, eclipsing the efforts at Leicester, Nottingham Forest and Gillingham, came at a price, Cullip's fifth yellow card and a straight red for the fit-again Adam Virgo ruling the pair out of Saturday's home game against Burnley.

Virgo will also miss the next away game at Ipswich on Saturday week and Rotherham's visit seven days later following a fracas with West Ham rightback Hayden Mullins, who was also sent off.

Mullins over-reacted to a crude challenge by Virgo and the pair were then central figures in a mass melee involving most of the players.

Claridge admitted: "I don't think he (Virgo) can have too many complaints. You have just got to walk away. If you raise your arms I don't think the referee has got any option."

Now McGhee and his players will be hoping for more support than they received in the defeat by Crewe at Withdean when Claridge makes his home debut against Burnley, those other claret and blues in the Championship. They certainly deserve it.

  • ALBION (3-5-2) Kuipers 7; Hinshelwood 9; Cullip 8; Butters 8; Reid 7; Nicolas 8; Oatway 7; Carpenter 8; Harding 6; Claridge 8; Virgo 6; Subs: Roberts, Mayo, Knight, Currie or Claridge (withdrawn 90), Hammond.
  • Sent Off: Virgo (73) violent conduct
  • Booking: Cullip (61) foul
  • Scorer: Butters (68)
  • West Ham United (4-4-2) Bywater; Mullins; Repka; Davenport; Powell; Chadwick; Fletcher; Lomas; Etherington; Harewood; Hutchison: Subs: Walker, Ferdinand, Rebrov for Hutchison (withdrawn 80), Reo-Coker for Chadwick (withdrawn 57), Zamora for Etherington (withdrawn 57)
  • Sent Off: Mullins (73) violent conduct
  • Booking: Hutchison (67) foul