We’ve just come out of
Electra at the Old Vic (a sort of ancient Greek version of EastEnders) when my mobile tells me that West Ham have won at Burnley and gone into fourth place. “Looks like it’s between West Ham and Southampton for the
title,” I text to Nigel, who replies, “More relevantly, it’s 13 points
towards avoiding relegation.”
Still, when we were last in
the top four? Match of the Day
reveals an early scare when Burnley’s Boyd hits the bar. The Clarets have more
of the play in the first half, although Downing also hits the post after a
great run inside from the right wing.
West Ham go two up in the
second half with both goals coming from crosses from our new young energetic
overlapping full-backs. Cresswell crosses from the left for Sakho to head home
his sixth in sixth games. Then Jenkinson crosses from the right for Valencia to
bullet home a tremendous header. He’s scored three for Equador during the break
and it’s another quality finish for WHU.
Substitute Carlton Cole has a
header cleared off the line but disappointingly West Ham then let Burnley back
into the game as Adrian makes a complete mess of gathering a corner and the
ball spills to a grateful Boyd to scoop home. Ings then sees a good header fly
just wide of Adrian’s post. (Ings can only get better?)
But West Ham produce some
character to clinch the game. Downing wins a corner and from the set piece
Sakho heads across goal for Carlton Cole to head home from a yard out. Nice moment
for Carlton who never complains about being a sub but is now our joint second
top scorer. And ironically we’ve scored three headers with Andy Carroll out
injured…
There’s still time for Burnley
to hit the bar, but it's been an entertaining game and we’re fourth (at least until
Man United play). A fine 60th birthday present for Big Sam. Yes,
Burnley are winless and our defence looked wobbly at times, but it’s another
great win. What can we complain about now?
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