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.
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.
“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:
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
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!
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