West Ham 0 - 1 Cardiff City: Kenny Miller makes good first impression as Cardiff steal win

The Scotland striker, who joined the Welsh club from Turkish side Bursaspor last month, had hardly had a sniff all game, but was alert enough to collect a pull-back from substitute Rudy Gestede and lashed the ball past Robert Green to get Malky Mackay's side off to an excellent start in the npower Championship.

"It's a fantastic result and it was a good performance from the boys," said Miller. "It was hard work at times, they threw everything at us, our defence was outstanding and we got a reward in the end.

"As a forward you want to score goals and when you come to a new club it's always important to get off the mark early, and there's no better place to do it than away at Upton Park. It's only one of 46 matches but it was important to come here and get a good start, the last thing we wanted to do was get beaten.

"A point would have been a good result for us so to nick it at the end was a dream start."

West Ham manager Sam Allardyce blamed his side's poor finishing for their home defeat.

The Hammers had numerous chances to get off the mark before they were hit by Miller's sucker-punch.

Scott Parker, still with West Ham despite constant speculation linking him with a move back to the Premier League, set the tone when he was sent through on goal but took a poor touch allowing Anthony Gerrard to get a tackle in.

Frederic Piquionne rattled a post, Peter Whittingham cleared James Tomkins' header off the line and City goalkeeper David Marshall made fine saves from Piquionne, Matt Taylor and Pablo Barrera. And the Hammers were made to pay for not turning their dominance into goals when Miller grabbed his dramatic winner.

"From our point of view we've mastered the game, created numerous chances and today was one of those days when we were not clinical enough to punish the opposition and then we paid the ultimate price right at the very end," said Allardyce. "We've lost a game we really should have won. I told the players that you don't always get what you deserve but don't go and throw a game away, and that's what we've done.

"A point is not the end of the world after a good performance, it should have been three, but you get one and you move on. But we didn't even do that so it's a hugely disappointing day for everyone. As ever the expectation is high and we haven't lived up to that expectation today.

"I just hope it's one of those days. It didn't go for us. The quality of our finishing is really what let us down. With the numerous chances we had we weren't clinical enough. And we had a bit of misfortune, the Piquionne one was a fantastic finish that rebounded off the post instead of going in, and James Tomkins' header was going into the net but just came off the defender."