His crazy in-off goal, from his first meaningful touch of the ball, was the key moment as the Hammers clinched a much-needed 3-1 win.

The goal in the 77th minute, West Ham's second, will not even be awarded to to substitute Solano - it was officially recorded as an own goal by Sunderland's £9million goalkeeper Craig Gordon. It was followed by Craig Bellamy's clincher in injury-time.

But the Peruvian veteran will surely feel entitled to claim it after his shot beat Gordon and came back off a post before rebounding off the fallen Scotland international's legs and rolling into the net.

West Ham manager Alan Curbishley, who signed Solano on a free transfer from Newcastle United last month, said: "The reason I brought him here was just for exactly what he did.

"He has a great first touch, brings other people into the game and calms us down a bit when we need it.

"He's actually been here five weeks but four of those have been international breaks and he has only trained with us five times.

"He arrived back from Chile on Saturday morning and I thought it would be best used as a sub, but we needed a shake-up in the second half and although I got some stick for it I think I made the right changes."