YESSSS! A win! And a convincing win at that.
Three games in and West Ham finally pick up their first 3pts of the season against Watford. A great start to the bank holiday weekend for me and many of my fellow hammers. It still amazes me how a grown man’s weekend can be determined by the result of a football match.
PRE-GAME
With the football season well underway that also means my sons Saturday mornings (and my own) are taken up with football matches. Thankfully it just preseason friendlies at the minute so there’s still a bit of a lie in allowed.
Unfortunately his team got beaten and he had to come off injured following a stamp on his groin after he went in for a slide tackle. He reckons it was intentional, the referee didn’t agree and I never seen it. At that moment I was in full flow slagging off the Tottenham supporting parent about how I thought Newcastle would cause them problems.
Back home afterwards, a bit of lunch, a few horses and football teams picked then off down the town to the bookies and maybe a sneaky pint. I’ve opted today to watch the game at home in the hope the change from watching in the pub might change our luck.
THE GAME
I had barely even got the game on and poured myself a wee beer when Lanzini was upended in the box. A definite penalty even before the need for the VAR check.
Up stepped Mark Noble in his 350th Premier League game to slot the ball into the bottom corner! 0-1!
A stat bandied about afterwards said it was his 25th Premier League penalty, with only Shearer (56), Lampard (43) & Gerrard (32) having scored more. I wonder where he stands in penalties scored during the Premier League era considering he has spent a few seasons outside the top division unlike those named? If anyone knows feel free to pass it on.
West Ham continued to dominate the game and could have been 2-0 up when Lanzini played Anderson in down the left but the Brazilian unselfishly squared it back to Lanzini who poked the ball wide. I think Lanzini, like everyone else, expected Anderson to shoot.
Watford begin to up their game and not long after Watford have ball in the West Ham net. Gray played in and puts his shot past Fabianski. 1-1
The game continues to be end to end and 5 minutes after the equaliser Haller almost finds the net with an acrobatic effort.
Both teams had chances to take the lead before the end of the half with Anderson going closest when he headed onto the post from a corner.
Half time 1-1 but what a game. A quick restock of the fridge and my glass ensued before the start of the second half.
A few minutes in and despite the appeals for a handball against Ogbonna in the area the referee waves play on. VAR shows he was correct as the ball hits Ogbonna in the chest.
Yarmolenko is next to have a chance but his shot is saved and Foster gets the ball in his hands at the second attempt just if front of an onrushing Haller.
The game continued in the second half with chances at either end.
Next up Watford should have had the ball in the net. Gray makes a run in behind, Fabianski comes out and commits himself but Gray gets round him and slides the ball across the goal line to Hughes who spectacularly missed. Miss of the season surely?
Antonio comes on for Yarmolenko and it wasn’t long before he was in the thick of the action. A great through ball allows him to run at Foster who rushes out to stop him. Don’t know what Anderson was thinking when he stepped over the ball and allowed Foster in no mans land to clear it.
Finally the deadlock was broken when Haller got off the mark in the 64th minute. Anderson slides the ball across the six yard box for Haller to slot in. 1-2!
Anderson had the next chance but probably should have passed this one instead of shooting. Maybe after the Lanzini miss earlier, he decided to be a bit greedier when he should have played Antonio in.
Antonio did have a chance shortly afterwards when his diving header from an Anderson cross was saved by Foster.
The goal that sealed the game came in the 73rd minute. A corner from Anderson was met by the head of Antonio, a reactionary save from Foster pushed it onto the bar but Haller was quickest to react with an overhead kick and the ball was in the net! 1-3!
The game petered out a bit towards the end and West Ham came away with a 3-1 victory.
OVERVIEW
Having watched a few preseason friendlies this was the type of game I was expecting West Ham to be involved in all season. We look very good at getting forward but quite suspect at the back. End to end football with us scoring more than we concede.
True, Watford aren’t up to much and the fact they hadn’t scored all season and had no points on the board meant it should have been a comfortable victory. But how many times have West Ham buckled under teams with those kind of stats? How many times when a team is on a losing streak played us and ended that streak? Thankfully it didn’t happen this time.
My bank holiday weekend was excellent, thank you West Ham…….for once!
Although it now looks like I’ll be giving the pub a miss and watching the games at home for a bit, I’m superstitious like that!
COYI!
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