Such is the cramped, unforgiving nature of the league this season that as one manager takes a sharp intake of breath, another emits a sigh of relief. Last night it was Gianfranco Zola’s moment to exhale, with West Ham United concluding a corrosive spell without victory to record a narrow but significant win over Sunderland. By contrast, Roy Keane must feel like bellowing in irritation.

For seven sapping matches, Zola had talked about retaining his principles and grasping the positives, but this is not an arena in which patience thrives and as each week elapsed, the little Italian’s authority could only diminish. Yet his team have held firm and if yesterday demonstrated anything, aside from Sunderland’s cursed inconsistency, it was that Zola’s players remain on-message.

This was West Ham’s first league victory outside London in 2008 and the timing of it was pivotal. “I’m very pleased and I feel relieved for the players,” Zola said.

“We’ve finally been rewarded for the work we’ve done in the last couple of months. We are all passionate about his game and we take it too seriously sometimes, but this was very, very important for us. For the manager, as well.”

The integral figures were Valon Behrami, whose twentieth-minute goal — his first for the club — separated the sides and West Ham’s defenders, who excelled. Matthew Upson, in particular, was superb. “I told Matthew that if I had to give him a mark from 1 to 10, I couldn’t,” Zola said. “It would have been 11. He was absolutely outstanding. It was a perfect performance.”

Upson, of course, was a member of the England side who beat Germany last week, but in spite of his elevated profile and West Ham’s pecuniary difficulties, he will not be sacrificed. “Matthew deserves to play for the national team, “but we are not selling our best players,” Zola said.

“We are determined to keep them. He’s a wonderful, wonderful professional. What I like about him is that he always wants to improve.”

At the other end, Behrami reacted smartly on the edge of the 18-yard box when a free kick from Julien Faubert was half-cleared by Nyron Nosworthy, although Keane found fault with his sluggish players. “Frustration would be a good word, especially when you give teams a helping hand like that,” the manager said.

“We make it hard for ourselves, but that seems to be the nature of the club, the nature of the team.”

Behrami’s pleasure was tinged with mortification. As a feisty first half, full of incident and irritants, clattered to a close, Anton Ferdinand miscontrolled a high punt, allowing Craig Bellamy to speed towards the area. The Wales forward showed awareness, squaring a pass along the six-yard line, where an unmarked Behrami was lurking; his finish, however, was ludicrous, striking the crossbar when it would have been easier to score.

If that served as a disappointment for the East London side, it was a let-off for Sunderland, who, as usual, had not transformed their dominance of possession into opportunities.

An early effort from Djibril Cissé had flopped on to the roof of the net, a later chance was speared marginally wide and a header from Danny Collins had been prodded over for a corner by Robert Green.

By that stage, the majority inside the Stadium of Light were expressing their displeasure with Mike Dean, the referee, who had dismissed Sunderland’s penalty appeals when Kenwyne Jones was tugged down by James Collins at a free kick. Cissé was later grappled by Collins as they hared towards the area, an episode that could easily have drawn a red card. “We feel they were penalties, but no sour grapes,” Keane said.

This was the club’s lowest league crowd of a rabidly fluctuating season. Cissé was to spurn a number of chances and he had a worthwhile claim for handball against Upson ignored, but the recourse to lumping high balls towards Jones was overly predictable.

There were jeers at the end.

Sunderland (4-4-2): M Fulop 4 - P Bardsley 6, N Nosworthy 5, A Ferdinand 5, D Collins 6 - S Malbranque 5, D Whitehead 5, K Richardson 5, A Reid 6 - K Jones 5, D Cissé 5. Substitutes: C Edwards 4 (for Malbranque, 66min), D Murphy 4 (for Reid, 67), E-H Diouf (for Jones, 81). Not used: N Colgan, T Tainio, J Colback, J Henderson. Next: Bolton Wanderers (h).

West Ham (4-4-2): R Green 7 - L Neill 6, J Collins 7, M Upson 8, H Ilunga 7 - J Faubert 6, L Bowyer 6, S Parker 7, V Behrami 6 - C Bellamy 7, C Cole 6. Substitutes: H Mullins 6 (for Bowyer, 62min), L Boa Morte (for Faubert, 76), D Di Michele (for Bellamy, 88). Not used: J Lastuvka, C Davenport, J Collison, F Sears. Next: Liverpool (a).