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West Ham Beat Southend 3-0

July 14, 2012 By Iron Bobby 1 Comment

West Ham today won their first game of the pre-season with a 3-0 win over Southend United.

Nicky Maynard headed in a wicked Matty Taylor corner kick in the 22nd minute to give the visitors a 1-0 advantage.

Jordan Spence then doubled the lead as he romped clear of the Southend defence to fire home, and Sam Baldock came off the bench to score his 3rd goal in as many pre-season games to give The Hammers an emphatic victory.

After a loss in Austria and a draw to Boreham Wood it was nice to taste victory, lets hope the pre-season gets better and better for West Ham.

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West Ham Back In The Premier League

May 19, 2012 By Stevo Leave a Comment

What an awesome way to end a season! West Ham United are back where they belong – the Premier League. Blackpool came to Wembley with one thing on their mind and that was to snatch a victory and deny the Hammers their legitimate right – The Prem.

I still can’t believe it as I type up this report that West Ham are back in the big time, back in the Premier League. There is certainly going to be some bubbly uncorked tonight in London’s East End I can tell you. Not the cheap Spanish Cava but a few bottles of the good stuff!

Blackpool “brought it” to Wembley and it showed. They gave West Ham a tough time and it had to be Carlton Cole the man to break the deadlock just before the break. That was a great moment, going into the break with a one nil lead at Wembley – the hallowed turf.

After the break, Blackpool surprised the hammers with a goal and it showed they meant business – the Tangerines wanted this as badly as the Hammers and now they had the bit between their teeth.

West Ham showed great resilience though and it was an awesome match with end to end stuff. Blackpool managed to frighten the Hammers on a few occasions but they soaked it up. Stephen Dobbie was particularly good for the seasiders and he wanted this more than anyone. The irons played like warriors this afternoon and Allardyce’s men were in for a treat. The Hammers toughed it out and the clock was ticking. Who would be able to break the deadlock between these two teams who were chasing Premiership glory?

It was our man from Portugal, Ricardo Vaz Té who sealed the deal for the Hammers! West Ham do not win many matches close to the final whistle but this was sublime. Vaz Té’s goal will go down in history and will be remembered for a long time, I can assure you of that lads!

The boys played their hearts out like true lions and they have reaped the spoils. I’m a great believer of what you put into something is what you’ll get out and the Hammers did that today. They played a great game of football and now they have got what they deserved – premiership glory next year.

Well done to Sam Allardyce and his boys. Sam has turned the club around and put them back on the right track – he knows what he’s doing, even if we did have a few scary moments this season!

So that’s it lads, we are back to the Premier League and the boys deserve a decent rest – but only after a champagne celebration of course!

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West Ham Going To Wem-Ber-Ley

May 8, 2012 By Iron Bobby Leave a Comment

West Ham booked their place in the Championship Play-off final at Wembley on May 19th after a 5-0 aggregate thrashing of Cardiff City.

After Malky Mackay’s recent comments about 2-0 being a very dangerous score line for West Ham, it turned out to be the platform for a great victory with The Hammers running out 3-0 winners in front of a packed house at The Boleyn, which was watched by former stars Trevor Brooking, Martin Peters, Tony Gale, Tony Cottee and celebrity fan Russell Brand to name but a few.

West Ham haven’t been to Wembley for 31 years so it could have been a nervy affair , but after a bright start from Cardiff and a possible penalty turned down it was The Hammers who took the lead in the 15th minute, Kevin Nolan heading in from a yard out after another wonderful corner from our set piece expert Matt Taylor.

After that it was one way traffic with Cardiff resigned to defeat being 3-0 down and needing to score 3 goals against an inform West Ham team. Just a few minutes after the first goal we nearly scored again, with two-goal hero from the first leg Jack Collison sending in a lovely cross which Gary O’Neil connected a volley with which hit the bar.

O’Neil then hit a beautiful curling shot from outside the box after a cutback from Vaz Te, which forced a fantastic save from Cardiff keeper Marshall who pulled off some great saves over the two legs.

Just before the break though West Ham double their lead in style from the in-form Ricardo Vaz Te who was played into the box and hit an unstoppable powerful strike across the keeper into the roof of the net. It was celebration time for The Irons!

Second half the game lost a bit of it’s energy and fluidity, not surprising as the tie was well and truly over, however Nicky Maynard managed to have the final say with a beautiful strike into the top corner after being played into the box by Henri Lansbury.

Only down side to a perfect day was Jack Collison injuring his shoulder, which I believe popped out and then popped back in again after a challenge near Cardiff’s corner flag. Let’s hope he is OK for the final as he has been in great touch for us recently.

The crowd thoroughly enjoyed this game, including me, and the bellows of “We’re going to Wembley” are still ringing in my ears this morning!

COYI!!!!

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Wembley Glory In Sight As Hammers Beat Cardiff

May 7, 2012 By Stevo Leave a Comment

An awesome performance by West Ham today at Upton Park that left Cardiff beaten 5-0 on aggregate has put the Hammers within a whisker of Premiership glory.

At Cardiff they were beaten 2-0 and today the boys just finished them off in style with goals coming from Ricardo Vaz Té, skipper Kevin Nolan and Nicky Maynard. Jack Collison’s brace set this game up in Cardiff and West Ham have not disappointed their fans who are itching for Premier League action next season.

And skipper Nolan’s header after just 15 minutes virtually said goodbye to Cardiff’s hopes of ever being in this tie. Then Portuguese wonder kid Vaz Té doubled the Hammers advantage just before the break with some decent finishing inside the box. West Ham were on a roll and nothing was going to stop them now! The bubbles were freely flowing and Cardiff could sense it!

Just before the final whistle Nicky Maynard, not to be outdone by his fellow Hammers, fired a beauty into the top corner of the hapless Cardiff keeper.

The Hammers are now awaiting their rivals with Birmingham hosting Blackpool on Wednesday. Blackpool have a one goal advantage after a Birmingham own goal in the first leg of the tie.

Hammers boss Sam Allardyce had this say after the game:

“We’ve produced two outstanding performances. “We’ve got a massive opportunity now. Hopefully we can hold it together and produce a performance like we did today at Wembley.”

Jack Collison had to come off after dislocating his shoulder in the clash. His shoulder was “popped” back in but was taken to hospital as a precautionary measure. We have no news at the moment on his condition but it doesn’t look like at this stage that he’ll miss the final.

Great work by the boys, you’ve had us on the edge of our seats at times throughout the season but this tie with Cardiff has shown us all that we deserve to be back in the Premier League. What do you think?

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Collison Double Downs Cardiff

May 4, 2012 By Iron Bobby Leave a Comment

Jack Collison upset his fellow countrymen last night with both goals in the two nil win for West Ham.

Collison was all smiles last night after giving The Hammers a great away result, thus putting Sam Allardyce’s men in a superb position for the second leg at 4pm on Monday 7th at The Boleyn.

The first of his goals came in the 8th minute when Ricardo Vaz Te cut back from a ball over the top of the defence, Collison’s strike was saved but the midfielder followed up and headed in from close range. He added his second shortly before half time with a sweet strike from outside the box following a corner, it took a deflection from a Cardiff players head but we don’t care about that!

Speaking to WHUFC.com:

“The first one I think I did my hardest to miss it, to be honest! It was a great ball from Vaz [Ricardo Vaz Te] and he put it on a plate for me. I’ve hit the keeper and luckily it has bounced out for me and I’ve managed to knock it in.

“The second one, it has bounced out to me and Matty [Taylor] was in my ear telling me to shoot so I thought ‘Why not?’ and I caught it quite sweet. It took a little deflection but I think it was going in anyway!

“They all count and it’s great to get the goals, but like I said it was a real team performance.”

So we are in the driving seat ahead of the second leg but we know all about counting chickens before they hatch, however our home form has picked up of late so unless we self destruct we should have enough about us to finish the job and have a nice day out at Wembley! COYI!

 

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