Three and easy for happy Hammers

The 23-year-old striker added to second half goals from Lee Bowyer and Luke Young's own-goal as the Hammers secured back-to-back 3-0 successes.

Ashton, who missed all of last season with a broken ankle, last found the net in the 2006 FA Cup final, but he was on hand to finish a flowing 62nd-minute move to put the gloss on a fine performance from the hosts.

For Boro, Jeremie Aliadiere hit a post and Tuncay Sanli, who missed a host of chances, rattled the crossbar, but despite being on top for periods of the first half, the visitors were simply blown away after the interval.

Ashton this week admitted he was out to catch the eye of England manager Steve McClaren, and with his bright red boots and bleached blond hair, he was hard to miss. And the striker had the ball in the net after 12 minutes, only to be denied by a linesman's flag after he had latched on to Craig Bellamy's through-ball.

Boro almost broke the deadlock with their first attack in the 18th minute when Mido skilfully turned and sent Aliadiere racing clean through, but the Frenchman's shot hit Robert Green's left-hand post.

Bellamy's afternoon came to a premature end in the 26th minute when the in-form Wales striker pulled up sharply and was replaced by Carlton Cole. Boro also had to reshuffle their strikeforce when former Hammers loan player Aliadiere limped off, with Tuncay coming on.

The Hammers had to wait just 25 seconds after the break to find the net, when Bowyer started and finished a swift move. The midfielder headed the ball infield to Hayden Mullins and sprinted forward to get on to Cole's one-touch pass and dispatch the ball confidently past Mark Schwarzer for his second goal of the season.

And five minutes later the hosts doubled their advantage when Cole shrugged off the attentions of Downing and aimed a precise angled pass towards Hayden Mullins, only for Luke Young to steer the ball past Schwarzer with his out-stretched right boot.

Ashton's moment was not far away with Mullins sweeping the ball out left to Etherington, who skipped past Young and crossed for Ashton to tuck home at the far post to prompt rapturous celebrations from fans and players.