Watford 1
West Ham 0

When you face a potential £30million payout for past misdemeanours, a decent cup run would not go amiss.

After a particularly bad day at the office for Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson and his fellow West Ham directors, what was needed was a decent performance at Watford and a place in the fourth round of the Carling Cup.

At least that would have given the chairman something to line the club's coffers just in case they are ordered by an independent tribunal to pay Sheffield United over the Carlos Tevez affair.

That door was slammed shut, though, as a lacklustre West Ham went down 1-0 at Vicarage Road.

Watford manager Aidy Boothroyd reported that the club were holding an internal investigation to find out who ran over a black cat following a catalogue of injuries and the infamous goal that never was' against Reading.

But if Watford thought they had been unlucky, how about West Ham's Icelandic chief and majority owner of Landsbanki?

First the credit crunch, then the collapse of travel operator XL, West Ham's main sponsor and largely funded by Gudmundsson and now the expensive mess that is the Tevez affair — the
billionaire banker must have run over not one black cat but a whole dynasty.

As one club official said at Watford last night: "We've just entered the golden age of Gianfranco Zola and up pops Carlos Tevez again. How's your luck?"

The West Ham chairman would be well advised to avoid walking anywhere near ladders just at this time.

On Saturday, West Ham had looked rejuvenated for Zola's Premier League managerial debut against Newcastle. Three days later, though, and a lot of those same players looked wiped out.

Zola said he hadn't heard about the tribunal's findings and, to be realistic, what happens now is out of his control and beyond his jurisdiction.

The tribunal's verdict in favour of Sheffield United could impact, though, upon Zola in a few months' time.

Should the Hammers face a huge damages payout to Sheffield United, they could be forced to recoup some of that revenue by selling several star players during the January transfer window.

Zola said: "I didn't even know about the Tevez story. Maybe that's something that the club can answer. I don't want to use an excuse like that.

"Let me have the concerns when they happen. It's something the club are handling but when the decision is taken we'll make some considerations.

"We have to carry on working like this until January, anyway, and I'm happy to do that. When the moment comes, we'll see."

For the time being, though, Zola has other more pressing priorities, such as picking his players up before Saturday's Premier League visit to Fulham.

As perky as they were against Newcastle last weekend, they looked decidedly peeky against Watford.

David Di Michele illustrated the point perfectly. Against Newcastle he looked a handful, capping an impressive performance with two goals.

Against Watford, he looked listless and out of sorts before being substituted.

West Ham had plenty of possession but were toothless up front. Zola, who is dedicated to giving youth a chance, gave Freddie Sears a start but the 18-year-old striker came up well short up against the experienced centre-back pairing of Jay Demerit and Leigh Bromby.

Zola said: "We knew it was going to be tough. This game came at the worst moment for us but as I've said to the players, this doesn't have to change our positive attitude towards the work that we're doing.

"It would've been too easy to hope everything would come right straight away. It was impossible to be at the top tonight. We were missing some
important players, too."

Zola, in fact, made five changes from his starting line-up against Newcastle.

Keeper Jan Lastuvka replaced Robert Green, Uruguayan Walter Lopez came in at left-back, Luis Boa Morte and Hayden Mullins were drafted into midfield while Sears partnered Di Michele up front.

Watford scored the crucial goal in the 70th minute, when Lastuvka came for a free-kick, missed his punch and the ball hit Mullins and rebounded into the net.