Ricardo Vaz Té’s late penalty saved West Ham’s bacon yesterday as the match ended 3 apiece against Birmingham City.
The first half of the match was something out of a horror story and threatened to damage West Ham’s promotion chances. Snatching just a point was not what the Hammers really wanted but they showed incredible spirit to come back from 3-1 down at the break.
The Hammers knew that Saints had won their game and were now 7 points adrift. With the pressure now on West ham could not afford to waste this opportunity of a game in hand. Sadly though, this is what they did and gifted Birmingham their goals to make it 1-3 at half time.
The lads from Birmingham punished the Irons for some sloppy football especially from the midfield where the ball was given away far too many times.Birmingham scored twice, both from the home side’s errors that saw them give the ball away in the midfield. Ricardo Vaz Té showed courage and scored almost straight after to make it 1-2 but then Birmingham got a corner and some defensive errors cost West Ham a third. The Hammers were booed off the park at half time.Big Sam Allardyce could only shake his head at such a poor performance from his lads.
After the break, Carlton Cole scored to make it 2 apiece and gave an invigorated West Ham some hope. West Ham had a lot of possession early on in the second half but it wasn’t used wisely as the best chances fell to their opponents with Rob Green keeping the Hammers’ hopes alive with a reflex save from Chris Burke. Curtis Davies also headed wide from a Jordan Mutch corner.
Allardyce was livid as two possible spot kicks were not given. Gary O’Neil went to ground in the penalty area after a challenge by Ramage but no penalty was given.Then West Ham’s players were angry as another penalty appeal went begging after Carlton Cole went down while tussling with Steven Caldwell in the penalty area.
West ham’s comeback was finally complete when Burke handled Henri Lansbury’s shot in the box, allowing Ricardo Vaz Té to rescue a point from the penalty spot for the Hammers that he confidently knocked in.
Match details
West Ham (4-4-2): Green; A Faye, Tomkins, Reid, McCartney (Collins 34); O’Neil, Noble (Baldock 82), Nolan; Vaz Te, Cole, Maynard (Lansbury 45).
Subs: Taylor, Demel.
Booked: Nolan, Lansbury.
Birmingham (4-5-1): Myhill; Ramage, Davies, Caldwell, Murphy; Burke, Fahey, N’Daw (Zigic 67), Mutch, Elliott; King (Townsend 85).
Subs: Doyle (gk), Huseklepp, Redmond.
Booked: N’Daw, Zigic, Burke.
Referee: Jonathan Moss.
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