15 mins: Di Canio 0-1

Half time: Hammers 1 Magpies 0

80 mins: Kitson 0-2

Full time: Hammers 2 Magpies 0

Ruud Gullit said:
 
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Harry Redknapp:

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Guardian match report:

Goals from Paolo Di Canio and Paul Kitson gave West Ham hope of qualifying for Europe as they moved up to fifth place with this deserved win. While West Ham's only route to European football is through a league placing, Newcastle's hopes rest in the FA Cup, where they have a semi-final meeting against Tottenham, whose watching manager George Graham must have taken great heart from their disarray.

The old saying 'Play to the whistle' was given a perfect demonstration as West Ham took a deserved 17th-minute lead against an out-of-sorts Newcastle. Di Canio, returning to action after injury, took advantage of loose marking when he received a ball 30 yards from goal. 

Although the referee's assistant raised his flag for offside, Dorset official Paul Durkin overruled him and waved play on, allowing Di Canio to run free of the statue-like Newcastle defenders, take the ball around goalkeeper Shay Given and roll it into an empty net.

It mattered little that the goal had a moment of controversy about it because West Ham would surely have scored anywhere against a patched-up Newcastle defence.

Ruud Gullit's side looked disjointed and allowed West Ham to take control from the opening minute. Paul Kitson, Newcastle-born and a former striker for the club, should have put West Ham ahead in the 13th minute but headed Di Canio's cross over from close range when he was unmarked.

The Italian striker provided a similar opening for Kitson after 28 minutes but this time Dabizas got to the ball first to divert it for a corner. Newcastle had fewer chances, although Alan Shearer forced an excellent save from former Newcastle goalkeeper Shaka Hislop with a curling free-kick from 20 yards in the fourth minute. But Newcastle's only other effort in the first half was a long shot from Gary Speed that flashed just wide of the post shortly before half-time.

Newcastle began the second half in a much more determined mood but still could not make the pressure count. The closest they came was a shot from Peruvian midfielder Nolberto Solano in the 70th minute, which forced another good save from Hislop.

Moments earlier West Ham should have increased their lead when good work from Frank Lampard and Di Canio provided another close-range chance for Kitson. But his header struck the inside of the post and bounced down on the goal line before being cleared by Laurent Charvet.

Newcastle midfielder Temuri Ketsbaia, on as a second-half substitute, missed a similar chance after 62 minutes when he headed over a cross from fellow substitute Robert Lee.

Kitson finally atoned for his earlier misses with a superb goal in the 83rd minute. The former Newcastle striker chased a long ball from Lampard, turned defenders Charvet and Andrew Griffin on the edge of the penalty area and slotted a low shot into the far corner of the goal.

That killed off Newcastle's hopes, although Ketsbaia kept going and had one shot saved and another fly over the bar in the closing stages.

Biffa