West Ham United beat Wigan 2-0 this weekend to almost guarantee Premier League football at The Boleyn Ground next year and move into 10th place in the table.
In a game which West Ham would have almost definitely lost under previous Managers, West Ham ran out 2-0 winners against an inform Wigan team and took a leaf out of a lot of good teams books by finding a way to win ugly.
Wigan started the game brightly and their passing and movement was very sharp and it looked like being a problematic day for The Hammers’, and it was Wigan who nearly opened the scoring when Alcaraz forced the impressive Jussi Jaaskelainen into a save.
Roberto Martinez’s men continued to dominate possession of the ball for the opening 20 minutes and it was Maloney who almost scored the first goal of the game when he was played through one on one with the keeper only for Jaaskelainen to deny him.
West Ham then had a few chance of their own with Kevin Nolan being a few inches shorter than he needed to be when rising at the far post unmarked from James Collins flick on off a corner.
The opening goal of the game then came when West Ham worked the ball wide down the left and Matt Jarvis cut inside to curl in a delicious low curling cross which evaded everyone including the Wigan keeper to nestle in the bottom corner making it 1-0 to the boys in claret and blue.
West Ham then had their tails up and pushed for a second and it looked like it would come from the spot when Nolan was taken down from behind unfairly in the box only for the referee to wave away the protests.
Second Half
Wigan came out in the second half with all guns blazing looking for an early goal and had multiple long-range efforts on at West Ham’s goal before defender Emmerson Boyce had a great opportunity when his diving header in the box was well saved by Jaaskelainen.
The home supporters started to grow restless with the Wigan onslaught as West Ham rarely managed to venture out of their half and Jaaskelainen keeping the visitors at bay with a strong of impressive saves.
West Ham then provided the sucker punch which took the wind out of Wigan’s sails when James Collins long free kick was chested down by Carroll and his overhead kick fell beautifully for Kevin Nolan who volleyed past the Wigan keeper to make it 2-0 and also bring up his 100th career goal.
Carroll then had the chance to make it 3-0 when he was played through one on one with Wigan’s keeper only to fail to convert the chance.
This was a game where Wigan dominated for large periods but West Ham came away with three vital points and look to have secured our place in the Premier League for next season so happy days!
Sam Allardyce Reaction
Allardyce speaking to the BBC said:
While it wasn’t the best performance, the bottom line is, if you score your goals and take your chances, you win football matches.
Their possession was better than ours but the chances they had they either missed or Jussi Jaaskelainen saved them. We knew Wigan would push forward which left them defensively weakened and we exposed them.
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