WEST HAM were booed off after another disastrous defeat, this time at home to bottom club Watford. Darius Henderson's penalty condemned Alan Curbishley's side this time and the Hammers fans let the players know exactly what they thought of an expensivelyassembled side that appears to be heading straight for the Championship.

Watford's first penalty award of the season turned out to be enough for only their third Premiership victory and the first away from Hertfordshire. Referee Alan Wiley went on to award the home side a spot-kick in the second half but crucially Marlon Harewood missed it.

Watford had already made the more assured start when Anton Ferdinand gifted them the penalty in the 11th minute by needlessly hauling Henderson back as the striker chased a ball into the box.

There were no protests; it was a howling error in keeping with West Ham's season.

Henderson in contrast had been toiling away manfully all season without a break and was not going to pass up this opportunity to score his first of the season.

The home side were shellshocked and it showed by the number of misplaced passes. A shoot-on-sight policy had also been adopted but any that were not blocked by defenders' bravery either went wide or were stopped by Ben Foster.

After a frustrating first half, there were cheers at the restart when the home fans realised the wasteful Bobby Zamora had been replaced by Carlos Tevez, even though the Argentinian has yet to score for the Londoners.

Tevez impressed made an immediate impact, but his teammates were rarely on the same wavelength.

The key moment of the afternoon was not long in arriving though as Reo-Coker burst through and was brought down on the edge of the box by Hornets skipper Gavin Mahon. This was also West Ham's first penalty award of the season but Harewood - one of five players brought back in following last week's defeat at Aston Villa - could not match Henderson's earlier cool finish and put it wide with Foster helpless.

Tevez fired over from outside the box as Curbishley's side sought the equaliser that was eluding them. Fellow new recruit Luis Boa Morte came on but could add nothing on another nightmare afternoon for the home side.