OUT-OF-SORTS Middlesbrough handed West Ham United a relegation lifeline at Upton Park yesterday, as Trevor Sinclair's solitary goal proved enough to earn Glenn Roeder's men all three points.

England winger Sinclair pounced with 13 minutes to go when he cooly converted a Glen Johnson cut back just inside the penalty area, after the young full-back nipped past Colin Cooper on the right wing.

Boro's defeat means the Hammers now go into their final three games of the season in a bid to avoid following Sunderland and West Brom into the Nationwide.

As well as suffering their second successive loss, the game also came at another cost for Steve McClaren's side, whose anti-climax to the season continues.

The Teessiders - with matches against Birmingham, Tottenham and Bolton remaining - had Jonathan Greening and Franck Queudrue booked, which will weaken their hopes of clinching a place in the UEFA Cup next season via the Fair Play League.

With Boro not pushing for a European place in the Premiership, this fixture was more about whether West Ham could close the gap between themselves and the safety zone - and they did.

Following the victory over a below-par Boro, the Upton Park board will still be keeping their fingers crossed that top-flight status can be preserved.

Should West Ham lose the fight, at an estimated cost of £15m, they will be forced to sell promising England Under-21 talents Joe Cole, Michael Carrick, Jermain Defoe and goal-provider Johnson in a bid to ease their reported £43m debts.

Boro, who lost their first game in nine to Arsenal on Saturday, made two changes from the side which started that match.

Out went Brazilian Doriva and Slovakian Szilard Nemeth and in came misfiring Massimo Maccarone and Australian Luke Wilkshire, who had not been in the first XI since the defeat at Fulham in mid-January. Geremi was again missing with ankle ligament trouble.

West Ham made just one change from the side which lost their six-pointer at Bolton two days' earlier.

Former Newcastle striker Les Ferdinand replaced Freddie Kanoute - scorer of the only goal in this fixture last season - who picked up a knock at the Reebok Stadium.

Both Cole and Rufus Brevett kept their places despite facing possible three-match bans following the parts they played in the controversial match at Bolton.

Cole was alleged to have punched Bolton's Bernard Mendy before lashing out in the players' tunnel, while Brevett is under investigation for an altercation with a police officer.

But under-fire manager Roeder was not in a position to bargain. He was keen to field his strongest side in an attempt to boost their fight and maintain their unbeaten run on home soil - they have lost just once since the turn of the year.

And for the majority of the opening half West Ham resembled a side desperate for points.

Boro may have gone close after just seconds when Malcolm Christie robbed Tomas Repka, but the hosts then took control.

There was plenty of inventive attacking play - with the tricky Cole at the hub of most - but the poor final ball was proving a God-send for Boro.

It was the highly-rated, and sometimes frustrating, Cole who went closest to opening the scoring on a couple of occasions during the opening half.

Goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, making his 200th League appearance for Boro, denied the England man when his thundering drive from the edge of the area was parried away.

And Cole later turned defence into attack when he made a superb 70-yard run before being forced into a weak 20-yard left foot shot by Cooper and the ball trickled wide.

The lively Defoe was also showing why he is wanted by a number of this country's top clubs - and his cheeky flick towards goal went close but Schwarzer was on hand to stop.

Just before half-time, though, Boro stepped up a gear and could have been a goal to the good.

Juninho made a hash of a shot when left unmarked in the box and then top-scorer Maccarone's overhead kick flew marginally wide.

Moments later Juninho's free-kick was only parried by goalkeeper David James and from the rebound Christie's effort was blocked before Maccarone's low shot was cleared off the line by Ian Pearce.

After the restart a below par Juninho was replaced by Joseph-Desire Job and eight minutes later Robbie Stockdale came on for Frenchman Queudrue, who never got to grips with the game.

Boro skipper Gareth Southgate, found himself in an unfamilair striking role just after the hour, but he could only turn Jonathan Greening's fierce cross wide.

The Hammers continued to push for the elusive winner, and Irishman Steve Lomas was unlucky to see his acrobatic volley rebound off the upright.

But on 77 minutes, with the home crowd booing Roeder as he walked out of his dug out, lively Sinclair struck the goal to end Boro's four match unbeaten away record.

Result: West Ham United 1 Middlesbrough 0.

Read more about Middlesbrough here.