Report by Alex Shilling, News Editor
@alexshilling
The Boleyn Ground
In an excruciating climax to a pulsating London derby, West Ham were beaten at the last on Monday night by a fantastic goal from the Premier League's most in-form player, Gareth Bale. The result was incredibly harsh on the Hammers, who pulled together as a team for 90 minutes and played some of the best attacking football we've seen all season; but football can be a cruel game. The result was especially hard individually on West Ham's goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen; who has been criticised by the media and by fans in recent games; but who pulled off world class save after world class save to thwart Spurs time and time again, with a full-stretch tip over the bar to prevent a trademark Bale chip from finding the net, the pick of the bunch. The Irons played well and any lingering doubts about the club's Premier League status will soon be swept away if they keep up that level of performance in the next few games.
After a a moving pre-match tribute to Bobby Moore, the day after the 20th anniversary of his passing, the game was underway and West Ham's gameplan became obvious from the off. A crunching tackle by Gary O'Neill on Emmanuel Adebayor that left the Tottenham man wincing and rubbing his calf set the tone for the rest of the game; the plan from Big Sam was clearly to get stuck into the self-annointed North London aristocrats. And it worked- for all of thirteen minutes. Just as the Boleyn Ground faithful were striking up a beautiful rendition of the timeless classic "Gareth Bale, he looks like a chimp," the Spurs winger picked up the ball on the edge of the West Ham penalty area, was given too much room by his Wales colleague James Collins; who failed to close him down; then shimmied away from Winston Reid, created the space for the shot and placed a pinpoint finish into the corner beyond Jaaskelainen.
The goal could not be said to have galvanised Sam Allardyce's men in any sense; on the contrary, there appeared no change to the gameplan and they continued to play with the same calm determination that they had started the game with; and simply continued to press the Spurs defence, looking for an opening. Twelve minutes later, it came. A good run from Momo Diame gave Andy Carroll the opportunity to run at Scott Parker inside the visitors' penalty area. Ex Iron Parker, not known for his precision when tackling, lunged at the England striker, bringing him down. The Geordie frontman got up and dispatched a Julian Dicks-esque penalty high into the net and suddenly we had a game on our hands again. From that moment, the balance of the play changed and Tottenham found their attacking opportunities strictly limited to swift counter-attacks as the Hammers dominated possession; and even those were swiftly snuffed out by a West Ham back four defending with an efficiency such that they were barely recognisable from the leaky, error-ridden rearguard which had given their fans such jitters since New Year. Matt Jarvis and Diame were both having excellent games and produced several telling balls in the final third, but no player in a claret and blue shirt could capitalise and after a Bale free kick on the stroke of half time went high and wide, the half time whistle went.
Spurs came out for the second half resurgent; a team clearly on a mission. They could go third in the Premier League with a win, and clearly wanted the points. A brilliant Jaaskelainen save at point-blank range from England centre half Caulker kept the score at 1-1; and then a spirited counter-attack gave the Hammers their lead. Following good work on the left from Matt Jarvis, Academy graduate Joe Cole appeared in the Tottenham box, and rifled his shot low beyond Hugo Lloris. With half an hour to play, Spurs threw everything forward and after yet another fantastic stop from the flying Finn Jaaskelainen; this time showing great reflexes to stop a goalbound Adebayor header, the break came for Tottenham. West Ham's punishment for failing to properly deal with an another textbook Bale ball into the danger zone was a stabbed finish home by Spurs substitute Sigurdsson. The goal came just minutes after Irons winger Matty Taylor was put clean through on goal and should have made it 3-1, but had his shot well parried by Lloris; but worse was to come for West Ham.
As the game entered stoppage time, too much room was afforded to Bale by Gary O'Neill, who had had an industrious game at the heart of the Hammers' midfield engine, and the 23 year old launched an extraordinary shot beyond Jaaskelainen and into the corner of the net. So near, yet so far. Been here before, you Irons, and we'll be here again. Keep the faith.
Man of the Match- Jussi Jaaskelainen, West Ham United
Line ups and player ratings
WEST HAM UNITED
Jaaskelainen- 8
O'Brien- 6
Collins- 7
Reid- 7
Demel- 8
Jarvis- 7
Cole- 7
O'Neill- 6
Diame- 7
Nolan- 5)
Carroll- 6
Substitutes: Taylor- 5 (for Nolan, '35); Pogatetz- 4 (for Demel, '72); Collison- 5 (for Diame, '84)
Substitutes not used: Spiegel, C Cole, Vaz Te, Chamakh
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
Lloris- 7
Vertonghen- 6
Dawson- 6
Caulker- 7
Walker- 7
Lennon- 5
Parker- 6
Bale- 8
Holtby- 6
Adebayor- 6
Dembele- 5
Substitutes: Sigurdsson- 6 (for Holtby, '56); Carroll - 4 (for Dembele, '75); Livcermore -3 (for Parker, '88)
Attendance: 35,005
Referee: Howard Webb- 7
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