It was a poor result but West Ham managed to come away with a point at their nil nil draw with West Brom at The Hawthorns today. Both teams failed to get on the scoreboard today and West Brom looked more the likely side to get away with a win.
It didn’t happen though and West Ham conserve their eleventh place in the league table. It’s been a few hard weeks for the Hammers and I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt. We have players out injured and the subs bench looked like it was full of reserves as a few of the players have never seen Premiership action before.
West Brom were up for it after a run of three defeats in a row and James Morrison came ever so close in the second half after hitting the crossbar not once but twice!
There was also a stage where the Brummies were all over the Hammers like Russian Migs chasing an F14 that had just entered their airspace. There seemed to be no let up and I think snatching a point away at The Hawthorns suddenly looks like a good result. Steve Clarke’s boys are now in a healthy 6th position and West Ham stay at 11th. It’s the wrong side of the table but as Jussi pointed out “West Ham have injuries and have had a few weeks of playing strong opponents.”
But it was West Ham who threatened first with a header from Matt Taylor going over from a Carlton Cole cross. After the initial Hammer threat, it was the hosts who grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck and took control.
Surprisingly, it was West Ham who created the more viable chances of the game. Just before half time, Collins knocked the ball down for Winston Reid to volley over from just five yards out. Moments after, West Brom goalkeeper Boaz Myhill had to be on his toes as he parried a stinging shot by Carlton Cole. It was such a powerful shot, the keeper was lucky not to be blasted into the back of the net with the ball!
After the break the game went ballistic after a slow moving first half. Jaaskelainen had to save from Zoltan Gera and Morrison found the Hammers’ crossbar with a back heel volley from a corner kick.
Morrison found the crossbar again, this time on 74 minutes from a header coming from a corner from Brunt.
With 4 minutes of extra time to be added, the big forward Carlton Cole had one last chance to become a hero and seal the deal for the Hammers but the West Brom stopper Boaz Myhill had it covered.
The Hammers need to get out of the lower half of the table and although we’ve had some tough games recently along with some disappointing injury news, I’m sure the lads can produce the goods and pull us out and get us back in the better half of the table.
