Pardew gets rewarded for his hard line

Alan Pardew proved last night he will be no soft touch this season as he seeks to restore West Ham to the Premiership.

His tough line on team selection paid off as Matthew Etherington's delightful 69th-minute free-kick sealed the points against Rotherham and took them into fourth place.

West Ham had toiled in vain to break down Rotherham's stubborn resistance but the former Spurs winger sent a stunning 20-yard effort curling round the defensive wall and into the far corner for the matchwinner.

Pardew demonstrated that big reputations will count for nothing, as he handed a debut to Chris Powell and gave first Upton Park appearances for new boys Malky Mackay, Carl Fletcher and Calum Davenport, on loan from Spurs. Davenport oozed class at the heart of the defence alongside former Norwich player Mackay.

Pardew's decision to ring the changes paid off, with West Ham looking solid at the back and inventive up front.

The Hammers boss now believes he has the squad necessary to earn the club a place back in the top flight this term. Pardew said: "The lads I left out were disappointed but I have no favourites.

"I want there to be competition and this squad are good enough to do it this season. I could sense the crowd were edgy and sometimes last season you could feel the frustration affecting the way we were playing. The crowd could have got frustrated here but they were great.