Since joining the Football League the team had shown a steady improvement with promotion to the First Division the main aim. Manager Syd King had assembled an experienced defence and it was hoped that young Vic Watson would be able to contribute with the goalscoring to ease the burden on Puddefoot. However, once again it was the usual pattern of losing away and winning at home. There were five successive away defeats, while at home Stoke, Port Vale and Bristol City were all beaten with a 3–0 scoreline. The first away win came in October at Bristol City, where Syd Bishop scored in a 1–0 victory, and he repeated the feat in November at Wolverhampton, scoring the only goal of the game. At home the Hammers were particularly strong and Puddefoot scored a brace in each of the successive home victories against Barnsley, Coventry City and Derby County. January proved to be a disappointing month, with no wins in the league and a FA Cup defeat at Swansea Town.

It was a huge shock to the West Ham faithful when in February, leading scorer Puddefoot was sold to Falkirk for British record fee of £5,000. It was a large amount at the time and the club said that they had a ready replacement in Vic Watson. There were three successive wins in March and after beating Sheffield Wednesday 2–0 in April the team lay third in the table. Unfortunately, not a single win came in the remaining seven games, leaving the side to finish fourth in the league. In the final game of the season at Blackpool, William "Billy" Williams scored on his debut. At 16 years of age he was the club’s youngest ever player at that time.