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Jack Collison Double Is Just The Ticket

May 4, 2012 By Stevo Leave a Comment

A brace by Hammer Jack Collison at Cardiff last night gave the irons hope in the first leg of their playoff with the Welsh team.

Even Sam Allardyce had to admit that “it was a great night” as his boys firmly planted one foot on the Wembley turf on their road to redemption and back to the Prem.

Cardiff now have to come down to our “manor” in East London and bring it if they want any glory. It’s going to be a tough game at Upton Park for the boyos in blue and the hammers are ready to take them on.The match will be on Bank Holiday Monday so expect a large and lively crowd for that one.

Of course, anything can happen in these games as we have seen all throughout this season. I think the Hammers can hold their heads cool and keep their nerves – I can’t see it being too big a problem to put away another few goals at the Park.

Big Sam said:

“This has been a great night for us but it’s only 90 minutes gone of a two-legged game and anything can happen.”

“We nullified their threat and restricted them to minimal chances on their own ground. Tactically, we did everything right.

“There’s no pressure on Cardiff, they can come and try to claw something but this result gives us a great platform”.

I have to agree with the boss on nullifying Cardiff as the boys did a good job and to be fair Cardiff looked pretty dangerous at times throughout the game and even tested Rob Green in the first 10 minutes or so of the first half.

Ok, so it might not be a cakewalk but we are two goals up thanks to Jack Collison and Cardiff will have to attack if they want to spoil the party.

This is just what West ham needed, too. A clean sheet and a couple of goals – you can’t ask for anymore, can you?

Cardiff boss Malky Mackay said this about his team:

“We’re disappointed with their first goal and our defending”.

Make no mistake though Cardiff will come down here on Monday thinking they are two down and it’s only half time. The boys need to be on the ball and a goal or two will seal the deal I think.

The funny thing is that Collison is a Wales midfielder, so that must have gone down like a hole in the head for the boyos down at Cardiff 🙂 Cardiff have been trying to get into the Premier League for three seasons now and Collison’s double might make the Welsh side wait another year – we will see!

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Cardiff v West Ham Preview

May 3, 2012 By Iron Bobby Leave a Comment

Tonight West Ham travel to Cardiff for the first leg of our promotion place play-off.

There is no injury news for Cardiff so they look to be able to select their starting eleven from a fully fit squad. Four unspecified players took knocks against Crystal Palace on the final day of the season, but are all expected to be back in contention for a place against The Hammers.

Cardiff have been beaten only once in their last 13 matches, and are looking to reach Wembley for a second time this season, having lost on penalties to Liverpool in the Carling Cup final.

The Welsh side are also looking to end their play-off nightmare having been beaten by Reading in last years semi-final and the year before lost to Blackpool in the final.

Good news for West Ham though is that we have a fully fit squad to choose from. Nolan, O’Neil and Tompkins all took knocks against Hull on Saturday, but have all been passed fit for our most important game of the season to date.

Big Sam substituted both Ricardo Vaz Te – who was looking tired to me – and Carlton Cole early into the second half in our game against Hull with one eye being on the play-off’s.

So the nerve jangling play-off’s begin tonight and even though we didn’t go up automatically, it would still be nice to win at Wembley in front of  a 90,000 strong crowd. COYI!

 

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Hurst Backing Hammers In Playoffs

April 30, 2012 By Iron Bobby Leave a Comment

West Ham & England legend Sir Geoff Hurst is backing his old club The Hammers to do the business in the upcoming play-off’s for promotion to the land flowing with milk and honey that is also known as The Premiership.

He said: “It was tinged with disappointment that they didn’t go up automatically when it looked like they were going to do, but they are still in with a shout, and a very strong shout.

“They have got to win three more games. They didn’t finish the season too badly, particularly at home, where results had been poor at times.

“The away record is some kind of record for the club, but they have lost a couple of games at home. But they won convincingly at home, 6-0, a couple of games ago and in terms of form coming into the play-off games, the form is pretty good.

“It’s going to be tough. They are playing Cardiff, who gave Liverpool a game in the Carling Cup final, but they are still there. They are still in with a shout with a couple of games home and a final at Wembley to fight for.”

Lets hope Sir Geoff is right and we will soon be back plying our trade in The Premiership.

Seeing as our away form is much better than our home form the first leg being at Cardiff could be an advantage, I am hoping we can go a long way to finishing the job there and not have to win at The Boleyn as we don’t seem to do too well against teams sitting backing and countering! COYI!

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Hammers Beat Hull And It’s Into The Playoffs

April 28, 2012 By Stevo Leave a Comment

The Hammers did what they had to do yesterday but it wasn’t enough to seal the number two spot for automatic promotion. Saints had a field day yesterday as they bulldozed Coventry City in style to seal the second place promotion spot.

All credit to Saints as they snatch the second place. That leaves the Hammers in the play-offs to snatch the third place and go back to the Premier League. It wasn’t what big Sam and the Hammers had in mind but hey, it’s been a long season and we’ve let a few good points go adrift and we can only blame ourselves for being in the play-offs instead of topping the league or coming home second!

The lads played well yesterday,too. With some classy stuff from Carlton Cole, the hammers looked like Premiership material!

Manager Sam Allardyce was stunned it was only 1-0 at the break.This is what he had to say:

“We completely annihilated Hull City in the first half. I was amazed at half time it was only 1-0 to us it should have been like the Brighton score. But we didn’t convert our chances even though we had the opportunity to do so.”

On Carlton Cole grabbing his brace, big Sam had this to say:

“We deservedly doubled our lead just after half time with an outstanding goal from Carlton Cole. He got two goals, which is very important going into the Play-Offs as our front men will need to contribute in a very big way during the Play-Offs.

It went down to the wire and the Hammers still had a chance of pipping Saints to the coveted number 2 automatic promotion spot. It wasn’t to be however, because Saints pulled off a great escape against Coventry and completely knocked them for six. It didn’t really matter then that the Hammers had won as Southampton already did the damage. You could see the fans faces yesterday at Upton Park as people got wind of what was happening at Southampton. The agony was apparent and West Ham just had to make sure of this game against Hull – no more slip ups please! The lads pulled through and it was thanks to Carlton Cole.

West Ham were always the better side and there was some nice football coming from both Carlton Cole and Vaz Té. West Ham seemed to have drawn a line under previous erratic performances which ended in draws. They looked good and the fans knew it although it got a little scary five minutes from time when Richard Garcia’s diving header, was ruled out for offside!

A word of hope for the Iron’s fans: in four of the past six seasons, the team who finished third in the Championship has ended up winning the play-offs. Ok, we’ve got Cardiff on Thursday and we have to be prepared. The Hammers are up for it, are you?

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Leicester 1 – 2 West Ham

April 23, 2012 By Iron Bobby Leave a Comment

Winston Reid ScoringThe mighty Hammers have kept their hopes of automatic promotion alive from tonight with a 2-1 win at Leicester City.

Knowing anything less than a win would gift Southampton the second automatic promotion place, West Ham knew they had to do the business and were definitely in the mood.

It looked like it could be slipping away when Beckford popped up with a header in the first half for Leicester against the run of play.

If Leicester thought this would rock West Ham then they were wrong, because The Irons went straight on the attack again like they had been for much of that half and grabbed a well deserved equaliser through the unlikely source of Winston Reid within 5 minutes, who finished from close range from a delightful Matty Taylor cross, not sure where our forwards were but I was happy our Kiwi defender was to hand!

Carlton Cole was in a ding dong battle with the Leicester City defence and proved a real handful for them until he was substituted in the second half.

Into the second half and Leicester made some changes, probably concerned by how dominant West Ham were in the first half.

The changes didn’t work as West Ham were still on top and creating chances, and in the 58th minute one was finally taken with Jack Collison smashing home from outside the box with a lovely strike. Fortunately for us Collison was still on the pitch to score as Henri Lansbury was on the sidelines waiting to replace the Welshman.

Vaz Te set-up Collison again inside the box only for a defender to nip in and win the ball much to Vaz Te’s frustration who thought Jack should have been more aware.

Nolan then spurned a gift of a chance in the last minute and instead of playing the ball to Lansbury who had an open goal he went for glory and missed the best chance of the match. West Ham nearly paid for this as Leicester got a free kick in the 4th minute of injury time and pumped it into the box with Winston Reid nearly kicking the Tigers players head off and giving away a penalty, fortunately it came to nothing and West Hams slim chance of automatic promotion remains alive.

Vaz Te impressed me again though and looked very lively and if we do go into the play off’s then I think he could be the man to win it for us.

So another eventful West Ham game and a nervous final day of the season although Southampton remain in the box seat. COYI!

TEAMS:

Leicester City: Schmeichel, Peltier, Konchesky, Bamba, Morgan, Marshall, King, Drinkwater, Wellens, Beckford, Nugent
Subs: St.Ledger, Howard, Dyer, Waghorn, Vassell

West Ham United: Green, Demel, Taylor, Reid, Tomkins, Noble, Nolan, Collison, O’Neil, Vaz Te, Cole
Subs: Baldock, Faubert, Diop, Lansbury, Collins

 

 

 

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