It's to the Eagle pre-match to meet Fraser, with Matt, Lisa and Nigel delayed by an ordering debacle at the Best Meze Cafe. Our party has been boosted by a recent tour of the London Stadium, viewing the hairdryers in the dressing room, which Nigel quips must be for the fringe players. We set off in a Borrowdale-style downpour to the ground, with Matt proving he is the hardest man in football by taking on the elements in just a skimpy hoodie.
There's a decent atmosphere for the visit of our fierce rivals and early on some good closing down by Kudus sees Bowen scuff wide from a good position. But after four minutes comes disaster. Maddison feeds Werner, Coufal backs off and the winger's cross is turned in by Johnson, who has escaped the attentions of Emerson.
Spurs have an interesting throwback formation with a high back line and Johnson and Werner hugging their touchlines. Porro fires just wide as West Ham have a dodgy opening fifteen minutes.
But slowly the Hammers come back into it, with Paqueta and Maddison enjoying a lively battle. A tardy Michael arrives after a read-through with his cast in the wilds of north London, bringing some much-needed fortune. Bowen wins a corner, which he takes. His inswinger bamboozles the Spurs defence, Vicario is pre-occupied with Antonio, and Kurt Zouma tries to head home but sees the ball bounce into the net off his back. "ZOOOOOOM!" booms the crowd as the Spurs fans are not singing anymore.
Ward-Prowse gets a decent free-kick on target, only it's straight at Vicario, as the half ends 1-1. Strangely nobody is very keen on bringing on Kalvin Phillips to shore it up, while Nigel and Fraser opt to leave Nigel's lucky banana uneaten.
It's a lively start to the second half from West Ham. A poor pass from Bentancur sees Antonio's snap shot well-saved by Vicario. A key moment comes when, with Maddison claiming a free-kick, Ward-Prowse plays a great long ball to Antonio. Van de Ven slips and Micky is through, but seems to run out of puff and shoots at the keeper. Dinos has a header cleared off the line, though Antonio misses the rebound and is given offside.
Spurs have a lot of possession but at times try to walk the ball into the net. It's an enjoyably competitive game as the Hammers' look determined to erase the memory of Newcastle. Zouma has a storming game and dominates Son throughout, while Mavropanos also defends well. Sours make five substitutions, while Moyes, perhaps stung by Saturday's mishaps, doesn't make a single change.
Still, a good point and the team played for each other tonight, with the tackles flying in and a lot of commitment against a top five side. We head to the Eagle, where Sinead has East London Pale Ale, Guinness, Corona and a half of John Smiths lined up on the bar. There's only time for one drink after the too late 8.15pm kick off, but there is time for our party to share Glenn Hoddle and Emma Freud anecdotes, as you do. Four points from Spurs this season isn't bad. Wolves away next and then the small matter of Europe. Irons!
PLAYER RATINGS: Fabianski 6; Coufal 6, Zouma 8, Mavropanos 7, Emerson 6; Soucek 6. Ward-Prowse 6, Paqueta 6; Bowen 7, Antonio 7, Kudus 7.
2 comments:
What was Paqueta thinking with that dink to Antonio at the end? A simple ball on the floor and Antonio was through to shoot straight at the keeper again!
It was a good hard earned point.
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