Sunday, December 17

West Ham's power surge sees off Stoke

Stoke City 0 West Ham 3

It’s off to the Gardener’s Arms to meet my cousins Terry and David (my mum came from Stoke and married an Essex Man) for a pre-match pint of Pedigree. All is going well until a rumour in the gents says there’s been a power cut at the ground. “We’ve not had a power surge up front for years!” quips a Stoke fan. “Anyone know a Sparky?”

We arrive at the stadium and loiter by David Gold’s Rolls Royce accompanied by lots of bemused and locked-out fans. Matt texts to suggest, "Couldn't they just burn oatcakes for power?" Eventually it’s announced the kick off will be at 4pm. At least it creates a good atmosphere as many fans have opted to stay in the pub for an extra pint. 

“One greedy bastard!” greets Marco Arnautovic as we take our place in the Boothen End, where an inflatable duck is being passed around. "He left 'cos you're s••t!" suggest the Hammers' fans. 

Shawcross heads a Stoke free kick on to West Ham’s post and from the rebound Msuaku breaks as the Stoke fans holler for a foul on Shaqiri. Arthur finds Lanzini who makes a great run from his own half into the box and goes down under a challenge from Pieters. The ref awards a penalty, though TV replays show that although the Stoke man lunged in Manuel appeared to dive. Noble dispatches it calmly enough.

Noble goes off injured and on comes Rice, but West Ham are still looking composed at the back and Arnautovic is a constant threat on the break. He powers through to shoot against Butland and after good control fires over the bar. Stoke’s best effort is a curling effort wide from Shaqiri.

West Ham start to look really threatening after the break. Arnautovic heads a free kick on to the top of the bar. Masuaku plays a great ball to beat Stoke’s offside trap and Arnie seems certain to score only to cut inside Wimmer and shoot into the side netting.

HASTA LA VISTA, STOKIES
“Arnie is a wankpot!” chant the Stokies, in a novel form of northern abuse. The Austrian striker then enrages the locals further by giving the crossed Hammers salute and beating his Hammers badge. As the Stoke defence stands off, Arnie the curls an effort on to the bar.

At 1-0 Stoke are still in it, as Shawcross sends a header just over the bar. The inevitable soon happens though, as Arnautovic plays a one-two with Lanzini and glides post a static City defence to fire the Hammers into a 2-0 lead. He goes down on his knees in front of the Boothen End and receives yet more dogs’ abuse. The bloke behind me is so angry he makes my pal Matt sound like a vicar’s son.

Arnie is then subbed as Stoke fans throw scarves at him and Mark Hughes has a go too. One thing Arnie does have is plenty of attitude as he walks off down the tunnel to a pantomime villain’s chorus of boos.

“Jingle bells jungle bells, jingle all the way! Oh what fun it is to see West Ham win away!” chants the sizeable away section.

SAKHO IN THE MORNING
Stoke’s defence seems to go completely absent as the home side lob long balls on to Collins’ head and the Hammers break at will. Sub Hernandez dribbles across the box to set up Sakho with a great chance that instead of heading in he misses with a combination of poor control and a backheel wide. But the third soon arrives as the excellent Lanzini plays through Sakho, who this time takes it well, setting off huge “Hughes out!” chants.

The Stoke fans then join in with the West Ham fans’ chorus of “Sacked in the morning!” 

“Is there a fire drill?” ask the Irons' fans. The whistle blows and it’s a great West Ham win. It feels a little like intruding on private grief as I accompany the despondent Terry, Dorothy, David and co back to the Gardeners. A huge plume of smoke from the incinerator seems to sum up a bonfire of the Potters’ dreams. We were feeling the same earlier in the season after the Brighton and Liverpool games. But Moyes has turned it round. In the end this could have been five or six and he’s proved that his teams can attack as well as defend.

All we need now is to take thousands of booing Stoke fans to games to fire up Arnie. It looks a lot more promising for the rest of the season.


PLAYER RATINGS: Adrian 6; Zabaleta 7, Collins 7, Ogbonna 6, Cresswell 6, Masuaku 7; Noble 7 (Rice 6), Obiang 7, Lanzini 8; Arnautovic 8 (Hernandez 6), Antonio 6 (Sakho 6).

2 comments:

Jackhammer said...

Good write up Pete, Thanks. I watched on a dodgy internet stream but it was impressive, a pity the Lanzini penalty had a whiff about it but a this stage I dont care.
David Moyes has given the squad confidence and direction, which is some achievement. the new improved Creswell with Masuaku in front just relects the thinking and improvement.
Clearly as a Hammers fan I cannot belief its going to last, but we are just out of our familiar home in the bottom three and its great! end of. COYI

Pete May said...

What was encouraging it that a Moyes team attacked as much as it did. We had enough chances score six. But as you say, with West Ham a setback is always around the corner!