THESE clubs last met at Upton Park 25 months ago in what was a 4-3 Premiership win for Leeds United. Since then, they have sold a combined £71 million of talent and yesterday it showed. The match was live on television and at times it felt as though the cameras were present to enable the nation to rubberneck at the scene of two financial and footballing post-Premiership accidents.

This was disapponting stuff, with only isolated flickers of lambent flair to illuminate the night. Certainly, the artistic merit of David Healy’s collapse under mild duress from Steve Lomas in stoppage time to win Leeds a penalty was undeniable. It was hard not to associate the decision of Mike Pike, the referee, not to give Leeds a spot kick seconds earlier for a handball by Darren Powell and the subsequent penalising of Lomas. Cue protests, pushing, shoving and then celebrating as Healy thrashed the penalty in. “We’re incensed with the decision, it was an obvious dive,” Alan Pardew, the West Ham United manager, said.

Kevin Blackwell, the Leeds manager, said: “I can’t say anything about referees or I’ll get fined two weeks’ wages every week.” But he added that his team might have had a first-half penalty when Danny Pugh was felled by Anton Ferdinand. Midway through that period, West Ham had an appeal rejected by Pike when Sergei Rebrov fell in the area, the Ukrainian bending like a sheet of paper in the wind under Paul Butler’s challenge.

The focus on the caprices of officialdom summed up a game in which both sides seemed to be hoping for some kind of external intervention rather than trying to clasp the contest and shape its flow. Leeds were impressively stubborn, although it cannot be a source of delight to their supporters that, in a lower division, obduracy appears to be their biggest asset.

The crammed away end and 30,000-plus crowd provided proof that these are clubs with admirably large and loyal fan-bases, although West Ham, both in the higher calibre of their squad and their loftier league position, are markedly closer to promotion than Leeds. But Blackwell is proud of his charges. “We’re learning every week about ourselves, about the Championship,” he said.

Suspicions linger that Pardew has adopted the buying strategy of a child with small change in his pocket, an empty bag in his hand and a pic n’ mix sweet counter in his sights. Since taking charge in the autumn last year, the West Ham manager has signed 18 players on permanent deals; this week’s acquisition, Gavin Williams, from Yeovil Town, was suspended last night.

Teddy Sheringham, one of Pardew’s most astute captures, came on after the break and at his prompting, West Ham found an elegant pass-and-move groove in the later stages, with Marlon Harewood, Lomas and Sheringham posing a threat.

The London club led soon after half-time, when Matthew Etherington’s cross found the head of Harewood, whose misdirected effort bounced off Matthew Kilgallon and was gobbled up at close range by Luke Chadwick — the first goal of his Upton Park career.

Leeds should then have equalised. Untracked, Brian Deane galloped late into the box to greet Healy’s menacing left-wing cross but screwed his shot woefully wide against the club for which he played last season. That did not matter when Pike spiked West Ham’s bubble at the end; for Leeds, a small mercy that masked a stilltroubled bigger picture.

WEST HAM UNITED (4-4-1-1): S Bywater — T Repka, D Powell, A Ferdinand, C Powell — L Chadwick (sub: N Reo-Coker, 67min), S Lomas, C Fletcher, M Etherington — S Rebrov (sub: E Sheringham, 46) — M Harewood. Substitutes not used: R Burch, H Mullins, R Zamora. Booked: D Powell.

LEEDS UNITED (4-4-1-1): N Sullivan — G Kelly, P Butler, M Kilgallon, F Richardson — J Oster (sub: J McMaster, 86), S Gregan, J Wright (sub: S Walton 90), D Pugh — D Healy — B Deane (sub: J Joachim, 80). Substitutes not used: S Carson, M Spring. Booked: Kelly.

Referee: M Pike.