West Ham United 2 Blackburn Rovers 1: Sears blazes a trail for revival of Hammers' tradition

Alan Curbishley would no doubt prefer to have something tangible to play for in the closing weeks of the season but being in the Premier League's comfort zone does have its consolations. If a Uefa Cup place still beckoned – or if the relegation trapdoor remained ajar – the West Ham manager might have thought twice about giving a debut to a teenage striker at this stage of the campaign.

Not that Freddie Sears, scorer of the winning goal at Upton Park on Saturday, is a raw novice. The 18-year-old from Romford has hit 25 goals in 24 games for the club's youth and reserve teams this season. "He has been here for ever," Curbishley said. "He's come on a bundle and has been training with the first team on a regular basis."

Within six minutes of the England Under-19 striker's introduction as a substitute he ran on to Dean Ashton's clever back-heel and shot from the edge of the penalty area. Brad Friedel parried his first effort but Sears kept running and dived to head the loose ball into the corner of the net. Sears is one of several teenagers who give West Ham encouragement for the future. Jack Collison, the 19-year-old reserve-team captain, and James Tomkins, who will join Sears in the England Under-19 squad to play Russia next week, have also trained with the first team, while the likes of Jordan Spence, Junior Stanislas and Daniel Kearns have all won international recognition this season.

West Ham have been producing top-class footballers since the days of Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters, but the problem of late has been keeping them. Would Curbishley be stranded in mid-table if he had Rio Ferdinand, Joe Cole and Michael Carrick at his disposal? It is much too early to be putting Sears in that bracket, but he has made a big impression already. "About three weeks ago we did one-on-ones and two-against-twos in training and Matty Upson and people like that said he did ever so well," Curbishley said.

If this result was just what Curbishley needed after three successive 4-0 defeats, it was a big setback to Mark Hughes. Blackburn are running out of matches to claim a Uefa Cup place and the Rovers manager was unhappy with the way his team had let West Ham back in the game.

With David Bentley pulling the strings, Blackburn had taken a deserved 19th-minute lead, Roque Santa Cruz converting Morten Gamst Pedersen's cross for his 16th goal of the season. Even after Ashton equalised with his first goal for two months, turning smartly past Christopher Samba before beating Friedel, Blackburn had chances to restore their advantage. "It was a game we were quite comfortable in," Hughes said. "We weren't really in any danger without hitting any kind of level ourselves. In the second half we were poor. Maybe there wasn't enough drive in our play to try to win the game."

Goals: Santa Cruz (19) 0-1; Ashton (39) 1-1; Sears (81) 2-1.

West Ham United (4-4-2): Green; Neill, Spector, Ferdinand, McCartney; Solano (Sears, 75), Parker (Noble, 75), Mullins, Ljungberg (Pantsil, 88); Ashton, Zamora. Substitutes not used: Wright (gk), Tomkins.

Blackburn Rovers (4-4-2): Friedel; Emerton (Khizanishvili, h-t), Samba, Ooijer, Warnock; Bentley, Reid, Dunn (Derbyshire, 71), Pedersen (McCarthy, 89); Santa Cruz, Roberts. Substitutes not used: Brown (gk), Mokoena.

Referee: M Atkinson (West Yorkshire).

Booked: West Ham Ferdinand; Blackburn Bentley, Dunn, Reid.

Man of the match: Bentley.

Attendance: 34,006.

Interesting? Click here to explore further