It was a thrilling match at Loftus Road last night and the Hammers did good but it could have been a different ball game (no pun intended) in the last 15 minutes of the game when a 10 man QPR made a last minute dash for glory.
The Hammers won 2-1 which should have been 3-1 if Carlton Cole’s “sitter” had gone in and not just wide of the keeper’s left post. These are things that will make or break the team this season back in the Premier League – these chances have to be put to bed.
The fans got what they wanted and both Jarvis and Carroll were on the pitch although the big striker came on towards the end of the match. Carroll did provide West ham with a much needed spark, too with some neat assists and lay-offs.
Goals came from Matt Jarvis and Ricardo Vaz Té to put the irons in full control of the game. After the break a worried mark hughes brought out Morroccan Adel Taarabt and he beat the hammers goal keeper with a blistering curling shot that would have had Leo Messi foaming at the mouth in awe!
Hammers’ defender Winston Reid had to go off after 23 minutes of play after a clash with keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen. The clash left Reid spark out on the floor and had to go off with Tomkins replacing him. Tomkins was the player that crossed the ball for Vaz Té to knock it in past Julio Cesar who I think must have been a bit unsighted by one of his own as he saw the ball late and gave himself no chance.
Ex Real Madrid star Esteban Granero and team mate Alejandro Faurlin were both denied goals by a superb Jaaskelainen. The Hammers keeper had a lot of work to do last night to hold off a QPR onslaught. Mark Hughes’ men were like a wounded jackal ready to strike and produced some great saves from West Ham’s Finnish keeper.
It was a night of yellow cards and the ref showed the yellow to eight West ham players. Just when it looked certain that the home side was going to equalise QPR had Diakite sent off after seeing a second yellow for a silly late tackle on Guy Demel. That gave the Hammers a bit of a breather but QPR didn’t think they were done yet and really took the game to the Hammers in the last 10 or 15 minutes. The ref even added an extra 5 minutes for injury time that seemed like an eternity.
It was the turn of Andy Carroll to come on and could so easily have made it 3-1 but the ball was launched into the stands instead! 3-1 might have been a nice score and a bit more reasonable for the Hammers’ efforts but it wasn’t to be. As I said before, this is what’s going to make or break West Ham this year in their return to top flight football and the squandering of chances is a big no no. These balls have to find the back of the net.
QPR are without a Premier League win this season and Hoops boss Sparky had this to say after the clash:
“I think I will be given the time to see this job through.
“We’ve had big investment in the club and we’re looking to improve — and we will”.
On the other side of the fence, Allardyce lamented not scoring more goals against Sparky’s outfit and also faces a £25,000 grand fine for picking up so many yellow cards. The Hammers‘ boss had this to say:
“It didn’t spoil the result as far as we were concerned but some of his decisions nearly spoilt the game as a spectacle.”
Mark Hughes thinks he will be given time to get his ship in order at QPR but the bookies are hovering with suggestions of who’ll take over at Loftus Road already. They seem to be certain that Harry Redknapp will be the new man in charge as they slashed the odds on him taking over to 15-8.
