A game too far for tired Hammers

West Ham 2 Leeds United 3

Pre-match lunch is in the Best Cafe with legacy fans, Matt, Nigel and Michael, where we discuss current affairs and wonder if Andy Carroll was at one of Boris' parties. The cafe isn't that busy and my egg chips and beans arrive very promptly, along with halloumi and chips for Michael and Matt, traditional bacon for Nigel and lattes and Americanos all round for us middle-class fans.

We join Fraser in the stadium and from the off it's clear the Hammers are looking tired. Leeds force two early corners and take the lead after seven minutes. A rusty Cresswell fails to cut out a long ball, Raphina pulls it back for Klich to force a good save from Fabianski. The defence isn't alert and allows Forshaw to gather the rebound and find Jack Harrison who strikes home. 

The midfield is badly missing the workrate and size of Soucek. Antonio is lucky to stay on after losing the ball and lunging into Klich. For once Mike Dean is lenient and only gives a yellow, but it's a sign of how sluggish the side is looking. Slowly the Irons do come back into it though, aided by Leeds losing two players to injury. When they bring on young Lewis Bate Nigel is at least able to crack a Carry On-style joke about "Master Bate".

Possibly unsighted by Rice, Craig Dawson heads just past the post from Cresswell's corner. The next corner is more productive as Bowen shows fine movement to profit from some poor defending and head home.

DEFENSIVE LAPSES

Sadly the Hammers then concede four minutes later from a corner. Ayling wins the header and Harrison gets behind Cresswell to poke home his second. Daniel James should make it three before the break but fires straight at Fabianski. Is this all because Nigel ate his lucky banana before the match - though his new tactic worked against Norwich and Leeds in the Cup?

The Hammers improve after the break and seven minutes in Antonio does well to hold off Ayling and find Fornals, who dinks inside his man, wrong-foots the keeper and pokes home a fine goal, topped off with a knee slide and a General salute to the fans.

The sage voices of row 44 say that at this point the Irons need need to concentrate on not going behind again and Rice needs to stop bombing forward as there's no Soucek behind him. But it's to no avail. We're level for just eight minutes before Diop plays a difficult ball in to Vlasic, who fails to hold it up. Raphina plays an instant crossfield ball to Harrison, who dinks it over the advancing Fabianski to make it 3-2.

I wonder why Alex Kral, a Czech international and midfield ball-winner, hasn't been given a chance. What was the point of loaning him? Michael the Whovian points out that Kraals were an alien race in the Doctor Who story The Android Invasion, prompting my own memory of the Tom Baker story The Power of Kroll. Moyes should play Kral just for us Doctor Who fans.

Lanzini is forced to give away a silly free kick and Raphina rattles the bar. It seems to be 4-2 when, after a poor pass out from Diop, Raphina roasts Issa for pace and crosses for Klich to score - though it's correctly disallowed as it hit the offside Rodrigo on the line.

That inspires West Ham to make a brave attempt at grabbing a point. Mystic Matt is surprisingly positive towards KIng Arthur Masuaku, who has come on with Yarmolenko. Though the decision to sub Fornals is strange. The Hammers force a corner and after Coufal's shot is beaten out it's headed home by Yarmolenko, only for Mike Dean to rule that Bowen was offside. We even bring on chirpy cockney Sonny Perkins for a late cameo up front.

BOWEN, BOWEN, GONE

Antonio seems to be playing as a left-winger at this stage and at the death plays in a great cross that is deflected towards Bowen. Jarrod seems certain to score but rather than head it chests the ball over the bar. So that's it, great entertainment, but we've lost a five-goal thriller.

We find a long short-cut that takes us over a blue bridge somewhere beyond Pudding Mill Lane, then discover that the Stratford Royal theatre bar is shut and instead opt for the Railway, which has a DJ but no decent beer, so it's down to Guinness. Politicos Nigel and Michael compare Wes Streeting to Jarrod Bowen, which can't happen often, while uber-fan Matt heads off to his second game of the day, West Ham versus Spurs at Barnet in the WSL.

Three home games in a week has proved too much for the Irons. We've played 32 games this season and it's starting to show. The Hammers are still fourth in the table, but for all Moyes' talk of not making panic buys, we need more players and soon.

PLAYER RATINGS: Fabianski 6; Coufal 6, Diop 4 (Perkins n/a), Dawson 5, Cresswell 5; Rice 7, Lanzini 5, Vlasic 5 (Masuaku 6), Fornals 7 (Yarmolenko 6), Bowen 7; Antonio 6.