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Hammers 6 Brighton and Hove Albion 0: Match Report

April 14, 2012 By Stevo Leave a Comment

An in form Ricardo Vaz Té helped the Irons to an awesome 6 nil demolishing of Brighton and Hove Albion at Upton Park where he scored a hat-trick.

Vaz Té now makes it 8 goals in 5 games but more importantly has put the Hammers back in contention for an automatic promotion place. The Portuguese striker has now put West Ham 3 points behind Southampton who are sitting in second place with just three games to play. Vaz Té has breathed some life into the claret and blues just lately and today’s performance at Upton Park is no exception.

Brighton’s defending today has been atrocious to say the least which was highlighted when the Hammers hit their crossbar with just 40 seconds on the clock! This was the seagulls heaviest defeat this season and they only have themselves to blame.

Brighton’s chances of making the playoffs look left for dead now as they stand five points behind Cardiff City who are sitting at sixth place. Gus Poyet will certainly not be pleased with his team’s performance today!

To be honest lads, it wasn’t much of a contest, was it? You could say that with a quarter of an hour on the clock it was all over bar the shouting.

Ricardo Vaz Té got on the scoreboard first just after 3 minutes after skipper Kevin Nolan won the ball on the left and threaded it through to the striker, who was 30 yards out. Vaz Te’s shot was powerful and flew through Peter Brezovan’s hands. His second goal came just five minutes after. Vaz Té was left on his own at the far post to head home a cross from Gary O’Neill. Next up was Nolan three minutes later to stick the ball in the net after Tonks headed Matt Taylor’s free-kick back across the goal.

The Hammers had to wait a bit for the next goal and it didn’t come until 63 minutes when Vaz Té found the net and got his hat-trick with a spectacular hook shot over his shoulder. The ref had waived play on when Henri Lansbury was brought crashing down in the box but the ball found the magical Vaz Té and it was crashed home in spectacular style!

Carlton Cole then made it five after his shot was deflected off Lansbury’s heel. To complete the drubbing Seagulls’ Gary Dicker turned a Kevin Noble corner into his own net with 13 minutes left on the clock. West Ham came away on a high note and they could smell the Premier League in the air!

Match Stats:

West Ham 4-4-2
Green, Demel, Tomkins, Reid, Taylor, O’Neill, Nolan, Noble, Lansbury, Vaz Té, Cole

Subs: Henderson, Maynard, Colison, Carew, Collins

Brighton and Hove Albion 4-4-1-1
Brezovan, Calderon, Greer, El-Abd, Painter, Bridcutt, Dicker, Navarro, Assulin, Vicente; Barnes

Subs: Ankergren, Noone, Mackail-Smith, Lualua, Jara

Ref: Roger East

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Hammers Demolish Barnsley 4 – 0

April 7, 2012 By Stevo Leave a Comment

It was a nice sight yesterday watching the Hammers demolish Barnsley 4 nil away.

This result gives the Hammers some hope as it means they have both Southampton and Reading within touching distance. If this was ever a time for the “squeaky bum” syndrome, then this is it as the top two can feel the heat of the irons breathing down their necks.It was a great match and I must admit that Barnsley had a nightmare in defence which started with a goal mouth scramble and a toe poke in for the hammers’ captain to make it one nil.

With Reading beating Leeds United earlier on, the Hammers started the game 7 points behind and needed to produce the goods if they were ever to steal a promotion place. But once captain Nolan tapped the ball in from a Nicky Maynard corner they never looked back.

23 minutes into the game and it was Maynard who got onto the scoresheet after a nice piece of play with his captain. then it was Mark Noble’s turn just 12 minutes after to crash home a third for the Hammers. Noble curled the ball in from a tight angle to find the net and also helped the visitors to a new club record of 12 away wins in a season. Nice one Noble!

“We found a cutting edge and it was a fantastic, professional performance,” said the West Ham manager, Sam Allardyce.

“We’ve broken the club record for away wins in a season, which is a great achievement. It’s very pleasing because it’s always difficult to play away from home. It’s just a pity we haven’t won more games at home.”

With the second half under way Ricardo Vaz Tê added a fourth goal for the Hammers against his old side from close range. We hope with this performance, last months five straight draws in a row is a thing of the past as the Upton Park boys have seen Reading, who are the new leaders, cruise past the them.

Barnsley looked shell shocked after the game who still have a 9 point cushion to fall back on at the bottom of the league table.

“The pressure was on us after Reading won earlier in the day,” Allardyce said. “Winning was the only thing for us and we did that. We did that with style and showed we could handle the pressure situation.

“We now face Birmingham City on Monday and that will be a tough test for us. We need to try and grasp another three points and see where we go from there.”

Allardyce can spend Saturday enjoying his win but as he said, “there’s a tough game on Monday against Birmingham”. If the hammers can grab some points there then there’s hope. Surely the hammers, after beating Barnsley on their own turf at Oakwell will be well up for the game at Birmingham. Do not disappoint us lads, we are counting on you 🙂

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Coventry 1 – 2 West Ham

November 19, 2011 By Iron Bobby Leave a Comment

West Ham came from 1 – 0 down against Coventry to win 2 – 1 and secure 3 points and a great comeback.

The Hammers had around 6,500 fans cheering them on at the Ricoh Arena, so the outstanding away day support continues.

“It is a satisfying afternoon,” Sam Allardyce said. “It is a great result to come back having gone a goal down at half-time. It is the first time we have shown this type of character.

“We were disappointed in our performance in the first half but we did something about it. Me by changing the system [from 4-3-3 to 4-4-2] and the players by performing better. They exerted pressure on Coventry which ended up paying off for us.”

That makes it four wins and a draw from the last five matches for Big Sams team, that’s promotion form right there I hope.

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Southampton 1 – 0 West Ham

October 18, 2011 By Iron Bobby Leave a Comment

Sam Allardyce rued a solitary defensive lapse that cost West Ham dear at Southampton on this evening.

The Hammers are currently in second spot in The Championship, but they are now five points adrift of the Saints, who made it 17 straight home victories with their 1-0 triumph in front of a biggest-ever St. Mary’s crowd.

It came from a Jos Hooiveld header just before half-time, something Big Sam felt should have been avoided with his team’s aerial capabilities.

“It was disappointing to lose our unbeaten away record but even more disappointing to lose it off a set-play,” the manager said. “We didn’t really do anything in the first half although still had some chances. We conceded a soft goal from a situation we practice regularly. We are one of the biggest sides in the league but that didn’t stop us going one-nil down.

“We deserved something out of the game for our second-half performance. Unfortunately, our sharpshooting centre-forwards who were magnificent on Saturday didn’t have their shooting boots or the heading ability to score today. At least we came back and showed something of what we are really like in the second half. We took the game to them, were creative and created chances.”

Personally I think it was always going to be tough with the fortress Southampton have created at St. Mary’s, but to lose 1 – 0 to a bad error is slightly gutting! Oh well that’s football for you! Let’s hope we can win the return fixture next year! Come on you irons!

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Capello Will Still Pick West Ham Stars

August 6, 2011 By Iron Bobby Leave a Comment

England Manager Fabio Capello has confirmed that he will continue to pick Scott Parker for England if he remains at West Ham.

The England manager, who has included Parker and team mate Rob Green in his squad for Wednesday night’s friendly against Holland rebuffed rumours that Parker’s international career could be put on hold should he remain at West Ham and play in the Championship.

However Capello stressed that ideally Parker would be playing in the top flight of English football:

“If he does not move then that is not my problem. He is one who can play with the national team,” Capello told reporters. “He is part of the group. If he is fit, he will be okay to stay with us. I will continue picking him. If I find a really good player in the Championship, I will pick him.

“I hope for him and for me he will play in the Premier League. It is important Scott plays in the Premier League. He is a focused guy – but they play more games [in the Championship] than the Premier League.”

Parker is set to start for West Ham against Cardiff at the Boleyn Ground in today’s game.

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