Manchester United retained their top spot in the league table last night courtesy of a one nil win over West Ham United. The Old Trafford defeat however, has left a sour taste in the mouths of many a West Ham fan to say the least.

The goal came from Manc new boy Robin Van Persie on 33 seconds. It was quite a shock to the system and a bit of a lame goal to say the least. He chipped a hapless Jussi Jaaskelainen via a deflection off James Collins to seal the match with less than a minute’s play.

It does leave a bad taste in your mouth especially as West Ham defended like Trojans and the Mancs never really got a whiff of Jaaskelainen’s penalty area after that!

Although the red devils dominated the ball as they usually do on their own park, they couldn’t break down the well-organised defense of the Hammers. The West Ham defense at the moment is outstanding and therefore we came away feeling rather sorry for ourselves after the game last night up North.

In the end, Fergie and his boys won the three points at stake and with a busy December on the horizon, they may be invaluable.

Lessons to learn

On the whole, although we lost the game we can take back to the Boleyn Ground some valuable lessons. The Hammers do have a defense that can produce the goods and last night it showed. If it weren’t for a lucky Van Persie strike that hit Collin’s leg and sent the ball spiralling past a helpless Jussi, the Irons may have come away with a draw, maybe a win.

Another lesson we must learn about the Old Trafford defeat is that we must put our chances away. We must stick them away against the bottom feeders and also the teams at the top. If we don’t we get punished. We had chances last night, even early in the game. Just after 11 minutes, Nolan could have drawn via a Matt Jarvis free-kick but flicked it just wide of the post. Nolan almost poked a Matt Jarvis drive beyond Manc keeper Lindegaard on 23 minutes, too.

The Red Devils looked like adding another goal sooner or later as they had so much possession but Hammers, like Guy Demel and James Collins, were robust warriors and Collins even got Man of the Match for his efforts.

Substitutes Carlton Cole and Modibo Maiga came close to equalising for the Irons, but it was not to be my friends.

Late into injury time, the Hammers got a free-kick that was headed down to substitute Carlton Cole. His cleverly chested-down volley on the turn was kept out by Lindegaard before Irons’ captain Kevin Nolan had a last ditch effort closed down and United defender Patrice Evra got away with a shocking back pass attempt thanks to fellow colleague Jonny Evans just before the final whistle blew.

We are trying to organise a competition for a couple of hammer fans to see West Ham vs Manchester United live on Saturday 9th March 2012 so stay tuned my friends.