A stunning second half fightback earned the Irons their
first win over Chelsea for almost ten years yesterday at the Boleyn Ground, as
goals from Carlton Cole, Momo Diame and Mobido Maiga overturned a first half deficit.
It was the first time this season that Sam Allardyce’s boys had come back to
win a game from a losing position, and the manager couldn’t control his delight
at the final whistle, nor in the post match interview for BBC’s Match of The
Day, where he allowed a cake-based analogy to get out of control, setting up a
predictably cheesy cake-based gag for smarmy host Gary Lineker.
Before all the cake analogies, jubilation, mass coaching staff group hugs and
delighted chants of “stick your blue flag up your arse”, however, there was
frustration, disappointment and bewilderment. Momo Diame, arguably the side’s
best player so far this season, was bizarrely dropped by Big Sam- a decision
that the manager later justified by explaining that the Senegal cruncher was
“tired.” Andy Carroll was also absent with a knee injury picked up in Wednesday
night’s 1-0 defeat to Manchester United, so Carlton Cole deputised up front. James
Tomkins filled in for Diame in defensive midfield, with Kevin Nolan and Mark
Noble sitting in front of the Basildon lad in central midfield, and Matt Jarvis
and Gary O’Neil haring up the flanks. The somewhat awkward midfield trio took
time to gel together in the opening stages, and the Hammers were a shadow of
the organised defensive machine that they have proved themselves to be so far
this season. Outrun, outplayed, outfought- it was only a matter of time before
the opening goal for the visitors came- and after thirteen minutes it did.
Tomkins’ failure to track Fernando Torres left the misfiring Spain hitman in
plenty of space on the right, and it was no trouble at all for him to wriggle
to the byline and pull the ball back for his countryman Juan Mata to tap in
from eight yards.
Chelsea were bossing the game, and although the goal seemed
to provide a wake up call to West Ham, an equaliser before the break looked
unlikely. However, as the Irons enjoyed a sustained period of possession in the
Blues’ half, an equaliser almost arrived. A ball came in from Mark Noble,
effervescent as always, James Collins- having a n increasingly solid game- got
in front of Branislav Ivanovic and headed the ball down for Nolan to half
volley beyond Cech and into the far corner. However, Martin Atkinson judged
that the Wales international had impeded the Chelsea man and, somewhat harshly,
awarded a free kick against him. Big Sam’s men then started to gain the
ascendency and, after Cech had been penalised for punching outside his area and
James Collins’ blasted free kick was deflected up in the air, the Chelsea
keeper had to tip Nolan’s goalbound header over the bar. Half time probably
came at just the right time for the Hammers, who ended the first half well but
clearly still had lessons to learn from that opening first twenty minutes.
Evidently, Big Sam had learnt a couple of tactical lessons
too; for when the boys headed out for the second half, Diame was on for O’Neil
and Matty Taylor replaced Tomkins. The opening quarter of the second half was
like the opening quarter of the first half- but in reverse for the teams.
Whereas Chelsea had swaggered over the Upton park turf with an infuriating
swagger in the first fifteen minutes, now it was West Ham who were taking the
game to their West London rivals. The boys in claret and blue piled on the
pressure as Cech remained a virtual spectator at the other end of the field, as
the Irons forced corner after corner. All came to nothing though, as the 35,005
wondered whether it might just be one of those West Ham days. But in the 63rd
minute, bang. Matt Jarvis’ cross took a deflection off England centre half Gary
Cahill and with trademark agility, Carlton Cole stooped to head in firmly his
first goal of the season. However, just with Mata’s first half opener, the goal
stung the opposition and Chelsea almost struck back on two occasions; first,
Torres should have prodded the ball past Jaaskelainen in a goal mouth scramble
and then, Mata was inches away from doubling his tally with a brilliantly stuck
free kick from twenty five yards.
It was now make or break time for Big Sam’s boys- did the
manager stick and hope to hold on for the draw or twist and shout, come on
baby, work it on out and go for the win? There seemed to be no evident change
in the gaffer’s tactics as a proper Premier League end to end game developed.
Winston Reid almost put the Irons ahead only to see his header somehow cleared
off the line by Ashley Cole. Momo Diame was running everything in the centre of
the park and seemed to be popping up everywhere, like Paul “dogshit” (‘because
he gets everywhere’) Ince in his heyday. With four minutes to go, a good touch
from Cole put the ball right in his path, twenty yards out, and the ex Wigan
man blasted past Cech. The Boleyn Ground erupted- but there was more to come.
Maiga, on as sub for the excellent Cole, pressurised Cole into a horrendous
error which left him and Taylor two on two with the Blues defence. A clever
pass from the Mali striker put Taylor through, only to see his shot parried by
Cech- but only into Maiga’s pass, and the supersub sealed the victory. A fantastic
second half performance by the Hammers and a very much deserved win over
Chelsea- our first for nine years.
Report by Alex Shilling
Line ups
WEST HAM UNITED
Jaaskelainen; Demel, Reid, Collins, O’Brien; Tomkins
(‘Taylor ’46), O’Neil (Diame ’46), Noble, Nolan, Jarvis; Cole (Maiga ’87)
Substitutes: Spiegel, Spence, Taylor, Diame, Fanimo, Moncur,
Maiga
CHELSEA
Cech; Ivanovic, Cahill, Azpilicueta, Cole; Ramires, Mata,
Mikel, Moses (Marin ’78), Hazard (Oscar ’73); Torres
Substitutes: Turnbull, Ferreira, Bertrand, Romeu, Oscar,
Marin, Piazon
Man of the match: Carlton Cole, West Ham United
Referee: Martin Atkinson
Attendance: 35,505
What an incredible year we’ve just enjoyed. From securing promotion to the Premiership thanks to a last-gasp goal by Vaz Te at Wembley to a brilliant first half of the season in the top flight of
