But Pardew insists the Hammers still have much work to do – starting next Sunday at home to London rivals Arsenal.

“One victory won’t propel us to being a team that is comfortable in the Premiership. We have a considerable amount of battling to do,” he said.

“You do set up games for yourself. We set ourselves up for a very nervous day with the Chesterfield result. Now we have set ourselves up nicely for Arsenal.

“Instead of going in and maybe suffering from the majority of possession they will have, we can enjoy it. We had some great results against them last year and we should go and enjoy Arsenal. Our fans will be up for it.”

West Ham would have equalled a 74-year-old record of nine straight defeats if they had fallen at home to Blackburn and that left Pardew under immense pressure.

He turned to Sheringham and the 40-year-old veteran duly delivered.

He scored the opener with a precise header from Yossi Benayoun’s floated cross after 20 minutes and had been replaced to a standing ovation by the time Mullins stabbed home the second.

Pardew said: “I did feel I might be opening myself up for a bit of trouble with the press – a 40-year-old coming to save the day!

“He has leadership qualities that are important to the team. It is always nice in teams to have senior player you can look to to lean on.

“He is a special character. The little bit of quality we lacked in the last few games duly arrived from a reliable source. Yossi’s pass and Teddy’s finish was sublime and it set the tone for a very important victory.

“I think our squad do lean on him quite heavily because they are quite young and inexperienced. He enjoyed the victory today as much as we did.

“The exuberance and speed of the team returned. Sometimes in uncertain times people will lack the ambition to run beyond or make a moment happen.

“Those ingredients are essential to a successful football team.

“They went out of our game but they returned when the goal went in. I thought this run would end with a draw so to end with a win shows the character of the team.”

Blackburn manager Mark Hughes rued the loss of Jason Roberts who suffered a fractured metatarsal eight minutes after West Ham took the lead.

“It’s been a disappointing day. We came here with high hopes of winning the game, we lost and we have lost Jason Roberts for a significant amount of time so not a great day at the office,” said Hughes.

“He has fractured the fifth metatarsal and so will be out for three or four months.

“That affected our game plan. We banged the drum before the game about making a fast start and dictating to West Ham given their current situation but that didn’t happen.

“We did more in the second half but their second goal against the run of play took the wind out of our sails.”