This isn't a performance that Manchester United will look back on fondly come the end of the season, but on a day when their defending became more and more desperate as the game wore on, it was fitting the game was won by Marcus Rashford.
This was a significant day for the United academy that produced Rashford and so many others during the years, marking the 85th anniversary of a graduate from that production line being included in a matchday squad.
That run now stands at 4,163 games, a mind-blowing figure and something United are rightly proud of. In that time 244 academy graduates have played for the first team and of the current generation, Rashford is the poster boy.
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Not only was it fitting he won the game on a day United were keen to celebrate their academy successes, but that he also brought up 100 goals for the club in the process. That century has come in 318 appearances, a remarkable tally for someone who turns 25 today.
Rashford's United career hasn't been plain sailing. His progress since that memorable breakthrough as an 18-year-old has been far from linear and as recently as six months ago it felt like player and club might be heading for a mutual separation.
His prolonged slump included almost all of last season and while he felt like a victim of United's stasis under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ralf Rangnick and a failure to provide elite coaching at Carrington, he also had to take responsibility for the state of drift that attached itself to his career.
But Rashford always felt like a potential beneficiary of Ten Hag's appointment and his ability to improve players on the training ground, as long as he embraced his methods.
He has done just that and his return of seven goals in 15 games has been impressive. This was his second headed goal of the season and that has been a clear area of improvement this season.
Christian Eriksen's delicately floated cross was asking to be attacked, but the aggression that Rashford showed to power above Thilo Kehrer turned him into an unstoppable force. The right-back just couldn't defend against the combination of cross and header.
It was the one moment of real quality in a game that turned into a scrappy arm wrestle and suited West Ham as a result. United were pinned back for much of the second half and had to defend with a zeal and intensity they probably didn't expect to require earlier in the afternoon.
They rarely looked like scoring again, so a fifth successive Old Trafford clean sheet was vital to making Rashford the match-winner.
He hasn't played for England since missing that decisive penalty in the European Championship final last July, but with Gareth Southgate at Old Trafford on Sunday, he must surely be close to confirming his place in the 26-man squad for Qatar. His transformation this season almost demands that recall.
He certainly hasn't been faultless and his finishing can still occasionally be erratic, but there has been enough improvement to show he still has a big role to play for his club and for England.
Maybe that break in the season for the World Cup will give United a chance to assess where they are with contracts, with several players on deals that expire next summer. David de Gea's situation has been discussed at length, but Rashford's deal is also up in the summer of 2023, although United have the option to add another year to it.
His performances this season are deserving more than that, however. At the start of this season it looked like a wise tactic for United to wait and see how Rashford progressed under Ten Hag.
Now it feels like a new contract is just reward for a player who could break records at his boyhood club.
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