Goalless draw at Upton Park

Upton Park saw a goalless draw ensue as few chances were created by either West Ham or Blackburn as the two sides shared the spoils.

Morten Gamst Pedersen's free-kick hitting the bar was the only moment of note in an abject first half.

Hammers substitute Carlton Cole made a key impact on his own goal-line when he hooked Gael Givet's effort clear.

Rovers substitute Jason Roberts had the chance of the game but shot straight at Robert Green when through.

David Gold and David Sullivan took their seats in the directors' box at Upton Park for the first time at the helm of their beloved club and received a rousing cheer when fans were asked by the public address announcer to celebrate the Irons being "back under West Ham ownership."

Frank Nouble could have had a penalty when Ryan Nelsen tugged at his shirt in the box, but the 18-year-old stayed on his feet and could not regain his momentum to have a strike on goal. Blackburn's Christopher Samba also went down in the box earlier on, but nothing was given.

West Ham began a new era of Upton Park as new co-owners David Sullivan and David Gold watched from the stands for the first time since their successful takeover.

However their performance failed to merit new beginnings as neither side looked likely to break the deadlock in a quiet game.

Blackburn, who remain without a victory at Upton Park since April 1994, conceded 14 goals in their first three league visits to London this season, but their seventh point out of a possible nine in the last three league matches puts them in a comfortable mid-table position.

West Ham manager Gianfranco Zola:

"It wasn't a nice game. The tension got to us and we couldn't produce.

"When you play teams like that you need to produce something extra."

West Ham joint-owner David Gold:

"In an ideal world we'd like to bring in one more (player), then we've got to get on with the business of retaining our Premier League status.

"I'm very confident we can turn this around. It's extremely difficult and the only way we're going to get out of it is to be a single unit - players, staff and - most of all - the fans."

Blackburn manager Sam Allardyce:

"We're bitterly disappointed we haven't grabbed all three points.

"Our plan was to see what West Ham had to offer and nullify it but what we weren't doing was causing enough problems with the ball.

"In the second half we started to outplay them and was a mixture of poor finishing, good saves and what should have been a definite penalty for us wasn't, because if he has not handballed it, it was in.

"That aside, we have had enough chances to put the ball in the net more than once, and we failed to do that."