Three goals in eight second half minutes ensured a thumping West Ham United victory over Derby County when the two teams met in their Premiership clash on Saturday.

Lee Bowyer opened the scoring three minutes before the half time whistle with a close range effort past Stephen Bywater. West Ham then scored three goals in eight minutes with a Eddie Lewis own goal sandwiched between strikes by Matthew Etherington and Bowyer before Nolberto Solano added the fifth halfway through the second half.

West Ham had the upper hand throughout the match and after missing out a number of chances early in the first half, took the lead in the 42nd minute when Carlton Cole headed down Solano's cross into the path of an unmarked Bowyer who made no mistake from inside the penalty box.

The goal opened the floodgates for West Ham in the second half as they doubled the lead in the 51st minute through Etherington who played a delightful one-two with Bowyer before smashing the ball into the net. The match went beyond Derby's reach four minutes later when Jonathan Spector took a big deflection off Lewis before going into the net.

Bowyer got his second of the night a minute before the hour mark with a driving run past the Derby defense before slotting the ball past a helpless Bywater to score West Ham's fourth goal of the night. Solano completed the proceedings in the 69th minute with an exquisite free kick into the far corner of the net to bag a well deserved goal to cap an impressive performance on the night.