With promotion their stated objective after dropping out of the Premier League, West Ham made a false start when they lost to Cardiff on the opening weekend of the Football League season, but Nolan's strike at Doncaster secured a 1-0 victory.

Allardyce hopes his Hammers can respond to Nolan's leadership and push on towards their target, and he knows the 29-year-old midfielder will both be orchestrating on the pitch and motivating his team-mates away from matches.

"He's got a good mentality, Kevin, and he knows what it takes to get out of this division," said Allardyce.

"We know it's got to be quality with team spirit and he builds that in the dressing room.

"He talks to players and demands things from players which helps me with my job.

"As a captain you build a dressing room and it's a lot easier to guide that team out with him."

West Ham have ground to make up at this very early stage of the campaign, with the top of the table looking unmistakably similar to last season's final League One standings.

Promoted Southampton and Brighton have both won their opening two matches to occupy the top two places, with Saints seeing off Barnsley 1-0 yesterday and the Seagulls seeing off Portsmouth by the same scoreline in a derby at Fratton Park.

Veteran striker David Connolly's close-range header on the half-hour mark secured victory for Nigel Adkins' Southampton side, who lost Richard Chaplow to a late red card.

Former Republic of Ireland striker Connolly also netted in the win over Leeds on the opening day, and Adkins said of the 34-year-old: "David Connolly comes alive (in the penalty area), he is an intelligent player, he saw the goal and put the ball in the net, he is an outstanding talent."

Brighton rode their luck at Portsmouth, taking the lead through Craig Mackail-Smith just before half-time and then benefiting from a last-minute penalty miss by Liam Lawrence.

Brighton manager Gus Poyet said: "It needed some character and I think we showed that."

Leeds just missed out on the play-offs last season but the new campaign is shaping up to be a difficult one at Elland Road.

Simon Grayson's team finished with nine men as they went down 1-0 at home to Middlesbrough, who themselves had Tony McMahon sent off just before half-time.

Max Gradel and Jonny Howson were dismissed for Leeds, and a Marvin Emnes goal midway through the second half decided the outcome on a day which began with a pre-match protest by a section of the home supporters against chairman Ken Bates.

Grayson expressed bafflement at some of referee Anthony Taylor's decisions, and Middlesbrough manager Tony Mowbray said: "When I came to watch Leeds and Middlesbrough in the 1970s there seemed to be a sending-off every game.

"It's a fantastic atmosphere to play football in and I think it over-hypes the players. My own personal view is the referee had a difficult day."

Former England managers Sven-Goran Eriksson and Steve McClaren were brought to Leicester and Nottingham Forest respectively to deliver promotion, but neither is having an easy time.

Eriksson has spent heavily at Leicester who tripped up 2-0 at home against Reading, whose goals came from Noel Hunt and Hal Robson-Kanu.

Eriksson said: "We were very, very poor and it is frustrating for everyone."

Forest lost 2-0 at Millwall, as Darius Henderson and Liam Trotter scored, and McClaren said: "We're still three or four players short of a squad that can compete for promotion and we need to build it quickly."

Keith Fahey gave Birmingham a 1-0 win over neighbours Coventry, while Crystal Palace beat Burnley 2-0, Hull claimed a fine 1-0 success at Ipswich and Derby edged Watford 1-0.