Back in 1986, the Housemartins released an album entitled London 0 Hull 4. Yesterday, life imitated art as Hull City registered their fourth victory in as many matches over clubs from the capital since being promoted to the Barclays Premier League, West Ham United following Fulham, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur in losing to Phil Brown’s top-flight debutants.

Perhaps a more remarkable historical fact is that Hull were bottom of the Football League exactly a decade ago after losing 3-0 away to Exeter City. Yesterday they returned to third place in the Premier League, leapfrogging back over Arsenal, Aston Villa and Manchester United, all of whom had briefly overtaken them on Saturday. Very few people, even on Humberside, expect them to remain in the Champions League places, especially with Chelsea and United to play after next weekend’s visit to West Bromwich Albion, but the time may have come to stop regarding a plunge towards the relegation zone as inevitable.

This, after all, was their third successive victory, thanks to Michael Turner’s second-half header from a corner, and they won while not playing particularly well, which is always a valuable knack to acquire. It was also only their second home victory of the campaign, and getting into the habit of winning at the KC Stadium will be the key to success — however Hull now define it. Brown was reluctant to state after yesterday’s game what his pre-season target had been and whether he would be setting his sights higher, beyond saying that “any goal-setter will always readjust his targets”, but it is safe to say that the pre-season aspirations of most of yesterday’s crowd did not extend very far beyond seventeenth place and safety.

“People talk about bubbles bursting, but if we lose, my simple answer will be to blow another bubble,” Brown, the Hull manager, said. “I said at the start of the season that this was a development year. We would develop as players and as a team. The biggest problem for us was to maintain success [after winning promotion]. The way you maintain success is by having good basics.”

Some might say that Hull are nothing but basics, with their strong reliance on fitness and set-pieces, and Brown admitted that his team need to improve in other areas. “I thought we could have played more football,” he said. “Whenever you give possession away, your system will fail. Consequently, a good football team — which West Ham are — will cause you problems. Can we survive on set-pieces? I think we have to provide more quality on the ball.”

West Ham had the quality, but could not find the finish as Gianfranco Zola, their manager, saw his side lose for the second successive match after beginning his reign with two Premier League victories. “We played the game we should have played,” he said. “I’m just disappointed that we didn’t finalise the chances we created.”

Despite Hull’s rugged defending, West Ham created and missed three decent openings in the first half alone. After 16 minutes, Carlton Cole hit a first-time shot from Matthew Etherington’s cross into Boaz Myhill’s hands, Hérita Ilunga put a free header well wide from Etherington’s corner after 26 minutes and Craig Bellamy, making his first start of the season, shot high from Cole’s headed pass.

They also had the ball in the net after Ilunga flicked it away from Myhill as he attempted to drop-kick clear and lobbed it smartly home, but Chris Foy, the referee, correctly disallowed the effort. Law 12 points out that the ball is in the goalkeeper’s possession until he kicks the ball, which seemed to be news to Zola.

Hull had been restricted to shots from distance, but five minutes into the second half, they were ahead. Their previous victories over London sides had included goals from Geovanni, but this one owed little to Brazilian skill. Paul McShane forced a corner on the right and Andy Dawson played the ball long to the far post, where Turner outjumped Matthew Upson to head in. “We knew they are dangerous from set-pieces and tried to handle it, but it’s difficult,” Zola said.

West Ham, though, were almost level within seconds as Cole’s shot on the turn rebounded from the bar and they continued to take the game to the home side. Scott Parker shot wide after Bellamy charged down Kamil Zayatte’s clearance and Etherington volleyed Cole’s cross into the side-netting. But Hull held out and whether at the KC Stadium or on their home grounds, London teams seem incapable of bursting that Humberside bubble. At this rate, even Chelsea, who visit the KC Stadium on October 29, may not feel confident of avoiding defeat. London 0 Hull 5?

Hull City (4-3-1-2): B Myhill 6 — P McShane 7, M Turner 7, K Zayatte 6, A Dawson 6 — D Marney 5, I Ashbee 6, G Boateng 7 (sub: B Hughes, 72min) — Geovanni 5 (sub: P Halmosi, 74) — M King 6, D Cousin 6 (sub: R Garcia, 82). Substitutes not used: M Duke, B Mendy, C Folan, S Ricketts. Booked: Zayatte, Dawson. Next: West Bromwich Albion (a).

West Ham United (4-3-2-1): R Green 7 — J Faubert 6 (sub: D Di Michele, 74), L Neill 7, M Upson 5, H Ilunga 5 — V Behrami 6, S Parker 6, M Noble 6 — C Bellamy 6, M Etherington 7 (sub: F Sears, 83) — C Cole 6. Substitutes not used: J Lastuvka, L Boa Morte, H Mullins, C Davenport. Booked: Ilunga. Next: Arsenal (h).

Referee C Foy Attendance 24,896