That this was the weekend’s solitary Premier League encounter to kick off at 3pm on Saturday afternoon was compelling evidence that the times are undoubtedly a-changing. Yet some things can always be relied upon, not least that Derby County – the team with the Premiership’s least potent strike force and most impotent defence – will lose games.

It is now 521 minutes since Derby scored and after an afternoon when goalkeeper Robert Green need not have bothered changing, it may be another 521 until they score again, but yesterday, against a rampant West Ham who were so depleted their fans chanted, “we’ve only got reserves”, the hosts were abject in all areas: outclassed, out-fought and outthought.

Arguably the die was cast on Friday, when Derby’s central defensive pairing, Claude Davis and Dean Leacock, cried off injured. Full-back Marc Edworthy was drafted into central defence for a disastrous maiden start of the season, alongside the fast-fading Darren Moore.

Moreover, the ominous feeling is growing that while manager Billy Davies remains publicly confident of hauling his men away from the brink via a platoon of January recruits, by then it may be too late to attract anyone save those who yearn for just five months of Premier League football.

“I won’t question myself in terms of organisation, preparation and our quality of work in training,” noted Davies. “But I was very disappointed in how our heads dropped after the first goal and our very, very poor defending for 15 second-half minutes. We had sufficient quality and experience out there to get points.”

In contrast, visiting manager Alan Curbishley hailed “a fantastic result.” For West Ham, this was a satisfying denouement to a week where once again they contrived to unsettle themselves, this time by announcing they were scouring Europe for that most mercurial of recruits, a technical director.

Once they had picked up their customary injury when ankle victim George McCartney hobbled off after quarter of an hour – substituted by the rarely spotted Ghanaian John Pantsil – they cruised through the gears.

Having flirted with a solitary striker in recent weeks, Curbishley introduced Jonathan Spector into the centre of midfield for the first time in his career, started with Luis Boa Morte alongside Carlton Cole and reverted to the ever-trusty 4-42.

Derby, who used three different attacking combinations at Villa Park last week, chanced a fourth, with Giles Barnes deployed just behind Kenny Miller.

They were still getting to grips with their formation five minutes in when Spector ploughed through a defence so uncertain of just who should pick him up, that nobody did, setting a template for the afternoon. With Matthew Etherington unmarked in the penalty area and screaming for a simple pass, the American selfishly shot wide.

The early skirmishes were full-blooded but whenever West Ham strolled over the halfway line, panic coursed through the home ranks.

Soon Cole’s cute headed flick was enabling Boa Morte to charge through on Edworthy. The makeshift centre-half promptly fell over. Boa Morte’s shot was blocked and erstwhile Hammer Stephen Bywater expertly pawed aside Cole’s follow-up.

Just after the half-hour, Andy Griffin and Boa Morte tangled on the edge of the penalty area. Nolberto Solano’s curling free kick hit the underside of the bar and bounced to a safe haven, but the Peruvian’s moment would come.

Just when it seemed as though Derby would take their half-time tea on level terms, West Ham scored.

Solano lobbed over a tempting cross from the right. Cole leapt above a concrete-booted Moore to nod down into the centre of the penalty area, the very sport where a white-shirted centre-half should have been. Instead, there was only Lee Bowyer, who blasted his way to the top of West Ham’s Premier League goalscorer charts.

Derby’s first half may have been bad, but their second was a horror show. Within its first minute, West Ham were denied three times, twice by fine work from Bywater, who foiled Boa Morte twice. From Solano’s subsequent corner, Matthew Upson crashed a first-time volley against the bar.

Moments later, Miller’s deft header which drifted wide from Eddie Lewis’s cross seemed to herald a light at the end of Derby’s tunnel.

Instead it presaged only an oncoming train, as the home side lost all shape and heart. First, Solano crossed in yet again, Etherington and Bowyer were gifted the freedom of the penalty area before the former gleefully drove past Bywater.

Could the pantomime get worse? Oh yes it could. Four minutes later, Upson headed Solano’s corner back across the penalty area. That man Cole nodded down yet again and although Lewis seemed to have the time and space to hack off the line, the ball somehow dribbled through his legs for an own-goal third.

With Derby descending deeper into the depths of despond, the fourth was as inevitable as taxes.

On the hour, Solano and Cole again combined elegantly for the unchaperoned latter to cross low. Predictably Bowyer was unmarked as he signed off before next week’s groin operation by imperiously sidefooting home.

If the Derby fans had loyally lingered after the fourth, the exodus began following West Ham’s fifth, a deliciously curled Solano free kick.

After the blitz came the eerie calm. Derby had long surrendered the match, West Ham surrendered to showboating.

“Down with the trimmings,” sang the mischievous away support. They may be right.

Match stats
(Derby/West Ham)

Shots on target (incl goals) 1/8
Shots off target 8/5
Blocked shots 0/3
Corners won 4/5
Total fouls conceded 15/10
Offsides 1/0
Yellow cards 2/2
Red cards 0/0
Possession (%) 46/54

Player ratings:

Derby: Bywater 6, Mears 4, Edworthy 3, Moore 4, Griffin 4, Teale 4 (Howard 52min, 4), Oakley 4, Pearson 4, Lewis 4 (Earnshaw 58min, 4), Barnes 5, Miller 5 (Fagan 75min)

West Ham:Green 6, Neill 6, Gabbidon 6, Upson 6, McCartney 5 (Pantsil 14min, 6), Solano 8, Spector 6, Bowyer 7 (Collins 73min), Etherington 7, Cole 8, Boa Morte 8

Star man: Carlton Cole (West Ham)

Scorers: West Ham: Bowyer 42, 59, Etherington 51, Lewis og 55, Solano 69

Yellow cards: Derby: Oakley, Fagan. West Ham: Pantsil, Bowyer

Referee: M Clattenburg
Attendance: 32,440