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They say if the day starts badly then it doesn't tend to improve and mine definitely didn't get off to the best of starts. With my reminiscences of the 1959/60 season hitting Clarets Mad at around 1:00 a.m. the alarm was set for 6:00 a.m. ready to be picked up an hour later. After about five minutes in bed I decided to give myself an extra ten minutes, changing the 00 on the alarm to 50.
"Will be with you in five minutes," read a text just after the alarm went off. "I'm still in bed," came the reply as it suddenly dawned on me that changing the alarm from 6:00 to 6:50 was not what I'd intended.
Thankfully the rest of the journey down to East London was trouble free and we were parked up very close to the ground early and on the lookout for somewhere to eat. It's usually a pub but incredibly this time we stepped into St. Bartholomew's Church of England on Barking Road for their very reasonably priced all day breakfast.
We got more than we bargained for as well. We walked straight into the Lithuanian wedding of Lucky and Ale, sat next to an Alastair Campbell look-a-like who happened to be the East Ham MP Stephen Timms (Labour) conducting his surgery (he probably got his all day breakfast on expenses), and we then even received a personal visit from The Reverend Canon Dr Jane Freeman, a pleasant lady who had just conducted the wedding.
Travelling to away games this season has been a pleasant experience in general, except the police state journey to Ewood, but here it was different. Elsewhere, home supporters have been quick to welcome us and I recall getting out of the car at Manchester City to be greeted by a home fan saying it was good to have us back.
Here, we were verbally abused by some idiots before the church visit and then as we wandered up towards the ground had to put up with worse from a group of fans swigging lager out of cans right across from The Boleyn and right next to the World Cup statue. What Queen Anne and Bobby Moore must have thought, heaven knows. Still, there did seem to be a lot of our fans around, certainly more claret and blue than I've seen previously away this season.
Eventually inside the ground (and after surveying home fans and checked out the signs, I can confirm its name is The Boleyn Ground), I suddenly had this optimistic feel about the afternoon. Was this the day when we would get our first Premier League win on the road?
As expected it was the same line up as in the previous four games but there was a significant change on the bench with Christian Kalvenes replacing Fernando Guerrero. The reason for that has since become evident with it confirmed that Stephen Jordan had been unwell and unable to train all week, not as though that could be an explanation for his first half performance.
Defending the Sir Trevor Brooking Stand, where the Burnley fans were situated, in the first half, we set off as well as I've seen us start an away game since probably the Birmingham game last February.
We dominated proceedings for the first quarter of an hour and more although in fairness we could have conceded two goals in that period, the most likely when they hit the bar with a header.
At the far end, Andre Bikey stormed through to see his short parried by Rob Green and Clarke Carlisle headed goalwards from a corner only to see Scott Parker make his first contribution to the game by clearing off the line.
It was all looking good and we only needed a goal. If I was to be critical then it would have been aimed at Chris Eagles and Robbie Blake who should both have offered much more given the amount of ball they saw without making telling contributions, one Eagles cross apart.
Then it all went wrong. West Ham won a free kick just over the half way line. Parker took it quickly and played in Jack Collison. Surely he was offside! No was the answer, Jordan had got it all wrong and Collison was left to steer it past Brian Jensen.
We have an awful habit away from home in that we concede a second goal too quickly after the first, and we did it again here. Again Jordan was the one who played them onside but even then they shouldn't have scored.
Jensen saved from Junior Stanislas but as everyone stood and allowed the West Ham player go for the ball he made no mistake this time from a tight angle with Jensen bizarrely diving the wrong way and leaving a massive gap at his near post. There was a suggestion of offside but I'm not so sure.
At 2-0 down and just past the half hour you sense it is game over for the Clarets, and indeed it was. West Ham added a third two minutes before half time when Carlton Cole stroked in a penalty.
Some would say harsh, but not for me and had we not been given such a decision I would have been up in arms. Jordan was again at fault, too easily beaten, and Robbie Blake clearly pushed Jonathan Spector leaving Chris Foy with little option but to point to the spot.
Carlton Cole, who has twice previously failed to beat Jensen from the penalty spot, hit it down the middle and West Ham went in at the interval with a 3-0 lead.
We switched to a 4-4-2 system for the second half with Wade Elliott going onto the right, Eagles switching to the left and Blake partnering Steven Fletcher. It made little difference and West Ham got a fourth.
Again Jordan was involved but this time I'm not having any criticism of the left back. He was clearly fouled by Zavon Hines and the decision to award the free kick the other way was a wrong one. Hines had backed in.
The cross came in from the free kick, Bikey lost Guillermo Franco who made no mistake and put it through Jensen's legs for number four.
Off came both Jordan and Blake, replaced by Kalvenes and Nugent. Incredibly Nugent's first two touches could have led to goals. An attempted volley rolled just wide of Green's left hand post and then a header went the same way.
It might have been 4-1 or even 4-2 but then it went 5-0 from a second penalty. Substitute Luis Jiminez pushed the ball past Jensen and you have to say our goalkeeper was very fortunate not to receive a card as the he brought him down.
With Cole off the pitch after suffering an injury in a clash with Jensen it was Jiminez himself who took it and again the penalty went right down the middle.
This could all have left me with a decision to make. Our driver confirmed that if a sixth went in he was leaving, and yet here we were with still almost half an hour to play. The last time I left a game early we were 3-0 down at Leeds and lost it 3-1 with Ralph Coates scoring.
Thankfully that decision was never required as the game turned upside down. It was all Burnley and Eagles began to torment them down our left hand side. Twice he provided the final ball into the box for Fletcher to stroke the ball home from close range and incredibly we now had a 5-2 scoreline.
There was no real panic from West Ham. Hines went down a bit too quickly as he tried to win a penalty and then Steven Caldwell was sent off after bringing down the same player just outside the box.
Even so we did manage to get another - this time from a ball in from the right. Tyrone Mears received the ball from Elliott. He crossed low and Fletcher left it for Eagles to hit home.
Suddenly it all looked a lot closer but and in the end we lost it by just two goals. But we shouldn't let those three goals hide the fact that we were shockingly poor again defensively and West Ham, like others teams before them, hardly had to work hard to get their goals.
Jordan had a shocker, but he wasn't alone. Goalkeeper Jensen, Caldwell, Graham Alexander and Bikey could all join him in that list and make no mistake West Ham could so easily have been challenging Spurs for the biggest win of the season.
We have to learn to defend better. Owen Coyle points to individual mistakes but it's not just that. More than once yesterday mistakes led to goals but they should still have been cut out.
We've scored eight goals in the last three away games and picked up one point - that tells it's own story. We simply cannot continue conceding goals at this rate away from home if we want to give ourselves a chance of staying in this league.
When considering the man of the match I cannot disregard the performance of West Ham midfielder Scott Parker. He turned in a sensational performance, as good as anything I've seen on my travels this season.
But I'll stick to a Burnley player for my choice and there really were only two candidates, Eagles and Fletcher. It is Fletcher for me again this week, but just ahead of Eagles. Without them yesterday the result would be looking a whole lot worse.
Pompey next week - we must put up a better fight there than we did yesterday. Even if we lose I don't want to be looking again at a defence that has far too easily conceded goals.
The teams were;
West Ham: Rob Green, Jonathan Spector, Manuel Da Costa, Danny Gabbidon, Herita Ilunga, Jack Collison (Julien Faubert 78), Scott Parker, Radoslav Kovac, Junior Stanislas, Carlton Cole (Zavon Hines 45)_Guillermo Franco (Luis Jiminez 59). Subs not used: Peter Kurucz, James Tomkins, Nouble, Mark Noble.
Yellow Cards: Radoslav Kovac, Herito Ilunga.
Burnley: Brian Jensen, Tyrone Mears, Clarke Carlisle, Steven Caldwell, Stephen Jordan (Christian Kalvenes 55), Graham Alexander (Kevin McDonald 70), Andre Bikey, Chris Eagles, Wade Elliott, Robbie Blake (David Nugent 55), Steven Fletcher. Subs not used: Diego Penny, Michael Duff, Joey Gudjonsson, Steven Thompson.
Yellow card: Brian Jensen.
Red Cards: Steven Caldwell.
Referee: Chris Foy (St Helens).
Attendance: 34,003