Burnley 2 West Ham 1

On a day when Zola expected his new strike pairing of Carlton Cole and Benni McCarthy to fire his side to victory it was another, much-maligned, striker who had the last laugh.

England reject David Nugent opened the scoring on 14 minutes when he lobbed the ball over Robert Green after being played through by Burnley's new signing Fox.

Matthew Upson, who has been the subject of renewed speculation on his Hammers future, allowed Nugent to get in ahead of him and the player, on loan from Portsmouth, got the better of Green, who appeared to misjudge the flight of the ball.

Burnley had a penalty claim turned down when Jack Collison seemed to shove Nugent over in the area just before half time but referee Howard Webb ignored the appeals.

The Hammers £2.5million deadline day signing Benni McCarthy looked ineffective for the first 45 minutes, and was replaced by another new boy, Mido, at half time.

The Egyptian at least offered more attacking threat and he thundered an early effort narrowly wide.

But it was Fox who doubled the home side's lead when he curled in an exquisite free kick on 55 minutes.

The kick was earned when former Iron Tyrone Mears was brought down wide on the right by Collison, and Fox expertly swung the ball into the far corner, beyond the grasp of Green.

West Ham hit the woodwork twice in the second half and Ilan's 81st minute goal was nothing more than a consolation.

The Brazilian forward had only been on the field for four minutes before he opened his West Ham account.

Carlton Cole lifted the ball towards the penalty area and Mido reached it just before Burnley keeper Brian Jensen and Ilan slid in to turn the ball home.

The defeat means West Ham are still looking for their first away win since the opening day of the season at Wolves, and they are starting to run out of games.

Despite having more possession and more efforts on goal the Irons could not break Burnley down and Zola was unhappy with the defensive mix-up that handed the home side the opening goal.

He said: "I didn't expect the mix-up for their first goal. Matthew and the whole of the defence should have run back earlier.

"I know how important it is to come to these places and win. We tried very hard and, unfortunately, it didn't work.

"Even at 0-2, the desire of the team not to lose was great. To be honest, we deserved something out of the game

"The players know that we need to react from this result. They want it and they're very committed and desperate to see the team become successful again.

"I'm sure they'll come back stronger."

The Irons have the chance to make up some ground this Wednesday when they host Birmingham City.

The visit of the Blues means a reunion for new Hammers owners David Sullivan and David Gold, and vice-chairman Karren Brady, who ran the Midlands club for 16 years until earlier this season.

The match kicks off at 7.45pm. West Ham running a Kids for a Quid scheme. Visit whufc.com for details.

Burnley: Jensen, Carlisle, Mears, Cort, Bikey, Fox (Edgar, 86), McDonald, Elliott, Fletcher, Blake (Paterson, 72), Nugent (Thompson, 88). Unused subs: Weaver, Duff, Cork, Eagles.

Booked: Fox, McDonald.

Goals: Nugent 14, Fox 55

West Ham: Green, Faubert, Spector, Tomkins, Upson, Noble (Ilan 77), Behrami, Collison (Stanislas, 62), Parker, Cole, McCarthy (Mido, 46). Unused subs: Stech, Da Costa, Ilunga, Kovac.

Booked: Parker

Goal: Ilan 81

Attendance: 21,001

Referee: Howard Webb