It was a day that the Hammer old boys came back to haunt West Ham United this afternoon at the Boleyn ground. Liverpool’s goals amazingly came from ex Hammers Joe Cole, Glenn Johnson and Jonjo Shelvey.

Mark Noble scored from the penalty spot to cancel out Glen Johnson’s rocket and Steven Gerard stuck the ball in his own net to hand the Hammers a 2-1 lead.

Without Suarez on the pitch I thought the Hammers would trounce the Liverpool outfit and at one stage it did look on the cards. 14 minutes from time Joe Cole stunned his ex team with a nice goal and was a true lad about it as he didn’t celebrate too much. That made it 2 goals apiece and Liverpool started to grow with the belief they they could win this.

West Ham began to fall into the old habit of complacency and they got punished for it. Jonjo Shelvey found the back of the net after a tussle with Collins on the goal line and the ball flipped up high and over Jussi’s head. The ex Hammer had a bit of luck with that one and sealed the deal for the scousers.

West Ham were up for this one especially having beaten Chelsea the week before. Who would believe the Hammer old boys would be the ones to stick the boot in on their old side though? The first goal came from a Steve Gerard assist when he put the ball into the path of Johnson who duly fired it in giving the keeper no chance.

Liverpool nearly made it two but Raheem Sterling’s shot went wide of the mark. Little by little a stunned Hammers’ side slowly began to get into the rhythm of the match and try to cause some damage themselves but despite the Irons’ best efforts,  Carlton Cole found himself on his Jack Jones quite a lot with a lot of his team’s attacks breaking down.

Before the half time whistle both Shelvey and Gerard found themselves booked with a yellow card as West Ham gradually started to get a foothold on the game. A terrific shot by Mo Diame was blocked by the hand of Joe Allen and the ref pointed to the spot. Mark Noble stepped up and calmly converted.

Just before the break the Hammers went ahead  when a Jarvis cross was headed into his own net by Steven Gerrard. Going into half time leading by 2-1 was a good feeling.

After the break the Hammers defended pretty solidly and Liverpool didn’t cause too many problems. It was when Mo Diame went down with a hamstring problem that the game tipped in Liverpool’s favour. Allardyce sent on Tonks but then watched in disbelief as a Sterling pass split West Ham’s defence in two to provide Joe Cole with a solid chance that he duly converted.

The game was looking like a draw until Jonjo Shelvey appeared at the Hammers post with Collins. Shelvey prodded the ball and it went high over Jussi’s head giving him no chance. The Hammers were lucky to escape with a 3-2 scoreline as Shelvey’s heavy touch was cleared by the keeper. As the clock ticked down Shelvey was also denied a penalty after being brought down in the box.

Back to back home league victories for the Hammers was thus denied by the Hammer old boys.