Everton 2, West Ham Utd 0Eggert Magnusson sat shivering in the directors' box, the worry lines etched across his brow only hidden when he sank his head into his hands yesterday.

If the protracted negotiations about the takeover of West Ham had unsettled the side through the opening weeks of the campaign, then the wave of optimism generated by the Icelander's purchase is masking a grimmer reality; the worry is he may just have lavished £85 million on a team still destined for the Championship.

The Londoners hover disconcertingly a point above the relegation zone this morning, their inability to make any impact away from home anchoring them too close to the foot for comfort. This was a ninth successive defeat on their travels in all competitions, including seven in the league. Newcastle below them have a game in hand.

West Ham forced 12 corners before half-time here without ever suggesting they might convert one. They generated this game's most clear-cut opportunity 18 minutes in, Carlos Tevez teasing his way into the area and squaring across goal for Lee Bowyer, only for Tim Howard to tip his point-blank shot away.

The home manager David Moyes actually gleaned reward through a makeshift side, with patched-up personnel straight from the treatment room. Phil Neville, Mikel Arteta and Victor Anichebe were injured in training on Saturday afternoon and Everton ended the game with five centre-halves on the pitch.

At one point in the second period, they used Alan Stubbs in central midfield and James Beattie on the right wing, such was their lack of options. The excellent Andy van der Meyde had not started a match since April and arrived here with only a minute of Premiership football behind him all season, though the hosts still had enough to squeeze them to victory.

It was West Ham's profligacy that paved the way for that success. Bowyer's miss and Howard's smart block from the busy Tevez on the half-hour deflated Pardew's side, and their confidence was further sapped when Bobby Zamora curled meekly over the bar after Andrew Johnson had inadvertently presented the ball straight to the Argentinian striker.

Substitutes Marlon Harewood and Teddy Sheringham, who missed a free header, might also have converted late on, though by then the gale that had whipped in all afternoon had taken the visitors' concentration with it.

Joseph Yobo's hopeful punt towards the corner was chased by Beattie, just as the home supporters were beginning to bemoan a perceived lack of effort from the forward, and the striker flung a cross into the six-yard box. Jonathan Spector could only head up and not sufficiently away, and Leon Osman chested the loose ball down, considered striking it with his right foot before pummelling it with his left beyond the exposed Robert Green. It was a stunning first goal of the campaign to cap his 100th Everton appearance.

Yet, if Everton had reason to celebrate the excellent contributions of Osman, Howard and van der Meyde, the real celebration was reserved for stoppage time. James McFadden's fine tackle dispossessed Javier Mascherano and Lee Carsley slipped the young substitute James Vaughan into the area for a finish that was crisp and true through Green. The 18-year-old has endured a torturous 14 months since knee ligament damage last season, with this was his first appearance at Goodison Park since he became the youngest goalscorer in the club's history in April 2005.

"It's been a slow process for James," said Moyes, who saw the young forward travel to the United States to see the knee specialist Dr Richard Stedman over his long-standing injury.

West Ham matched Everton for spirit yesterday but the suspicion remains these are teams moving in opposite directions.