The Hammers “nailed” Chelsea yesterday afternoon and might have also “hammered” the final nail in our favourite Spanish waiter’s coffin by trouncing them by a very agreeable 3 goals to one.
I don’t think Rafa Benitez had too much to say after the match and I’m sure that big Sam Allardyce is not his glass of sangria at the moment especially as the two didn’t exactly see eye to eye when the Spaniard was in charge of Liverpool and Allardyce was Bolton’s boss.
Chelsea’s Juan Mata drew first blood on 13 minutes with a nice strike to beat Jussi and was assisted by none other than Torres. Torres left Winston Reid for dead and put an inch perfect cross to fellow compatriot Mata who rifled his shot past Jussi. Maybe Rafa thought it was the start of a Spanish style fiesta at Upton Park and who could have blamed him as Chelsea had a lot of the ball and showed great technique. West Ham were defending pretty solidly but were unable to turn things around in the first half.
After the break, the Hammers made 2 changes. Diame and Taylor came on for Tomkins and O’Neil. Chelsea got the game underway but West Ham United were quickly on the attack. Taylor started to play wide right and Mo Diame slotted into the midfield, with the welcome sight of Noble dropping to his usual anchor role.
On 63 minutes West Ham got the goal they were looking for. The irons attacked down the left with Nolan finding Jarvis, who was just onside. Jarvis’ cross hit Cahill on the head and looped high into the air. Carlton Cole managed to get the better of Ivanovic and nutted the ball into the bottom left-hand corner.
Carlton Cole did look like he was all over Ivanovic actually, but as you know – “all’s fair in love and football” 🙂
With the game at one apiece, things started to look up for the Hammers, although with a quarter of an hour to go, Jaaskelainen threw the ball straight to Eden Hazard. The keeper was on the floor but the Belgian got too much on his shot and it cleared the crossbar. What a “let off ” as Hazard doesn’t usually screw up from that distance.
On 89 minutes and the game looking like a draw, Cole collected a pass onto his chest from Joey O’Brien. The big number 9 laid the ball off for Mo Diame, who found the time and space to pick his spot to perfection and rifle a low shot into the net from 16 yards out.
The Hammers took the lead and there was a smile on big Sam’s face. They say it’s not over till the fat lady sings and there was more to come. Late into extra time on 91 minutes, Maiga intercepted a clearance and a ridiculous faux pas from Ashley Cole and waited for the overlap of Matt Taylor. Maiga’s low first-time shot is palmed away by Chelski stopper Petr Cech and Maiga followed up to bury the ball in the net from ten yards.
To coin a phrase from Sebastian Vettel; “This is what I’m talking about”. The lads proved yesterday that they don’t have to rollover for the big guns. We put our chances away and the defense was pretty solid to boot. It was a great game and I’m still laughing, not at the result but Ashley Cole’s hairstyle. Suddenly Rafa Benitez looks like he’s on the way out before getting started. It’s no wonder the Blues’ fan dislike him! Come on you Hammers!
Attendance was a rather solid 35,000.
About Stevo
We should have been out of sight in the first half as we battered West Ham, but we never took our chances and in the second half we got dominated with the introduction of that Diame fella who is a beast! It could have all been different if Mata’s freekick had squeezed in!
Get in West Ham! About time we got a good result against a top 4 team!