Up against a team that hasn't won away all season - what could possibly go right? We're a little nervous in the London Stadium as our team gather. Lisa is on shift work and replaced by super sub The Gav, plus regulars Big Sam in shirtsleeves, Nigel with his Stranglers plastic bag and Mystic Matt.
The good news is all the Leeds game absentees are playing apart from AWB, with Jimmy Summerville back on the left. Encouragingly Wolves are wearing a terrible away kit that seems to be made up of discarded turquoise women's hiking tops from Blacks.
West Ham start quite slowly as Wolves produce some neat passing and Armstrong forces a save from Hermansen. Still, the Zen Buddhism course that Lisa has sent Matt on seems to have paid off as he's remarkably positive towards Pablo all game.
It's attritional fare until the 42nd minute. A corner is cleared to Bowen, who cuts inside and crosses into the box. The Greek Bloke rises like the Colossus of Rhodes and snaps back his neck to power a fantastic header into the corner of Sa's net. "Greek Bloke!! Greek Bloke!!" holler Big Sam and Michael, his biggest fans. Matt says he never doubted him.
The second half sees Taty give away a free kick on the edge of the box and Angel Gomes smacks a shot on to the post. From the rebound Summerville races clear to try and chip Sa, just missing when he should probably have passed to Castellanos.
But West Ham are playing a lot better now. Taty finds Bowen on the wing who cuts inside Krejci to strike a brilliant shot against the post. That's three times in two games Jarrod has hit the woodwork.
But there's something in the air tonight. Summerville does really well to nick the ball and find Taty. He finds Pablo who produces a Brazilian flick to play in Taty who toe-pokes home a poacher's goal to send the Bobby Moore Stand into raptures. Castellanos produces a Pablo Fornals-style salute to celebrate.
Two minutes later Bowen wins the ball off a Wolves midfielder and finds Taty on the edge of the box. He turns to fire a low effort into the bottom corner. It's three! What sort of thing is happening here? West Ham are massive, everywhere we go.
WE'VE GOT DINOS MAVROPANOS
"You're going down with the Tottenham!" chant the gleeful home fans. Bowen never stops running and wins another corner. When it comes over Dinos is being held but still manages to swivel and volley a finish worthy of Erling Haaland into the net. "Greek Bloke! Greek Bloke!" shouts Big Sam in wonderment. He's also celebrating his first league win of the season since burying a season ticket.
We're quietly confident of at least a point now. It's almost five when Bowen finds Traore. The enigmatic sub uses his speed to break clear and then chips wide of goal when he should score. Taty goes off and it's the Greek Bloke who is on a hat-trick. He's also been imperious at the back. We can actually enjoy the end of the game.
What a weekend. Gavin is up early tomorrow to catch the coach for Lincoln versus Orient while I'm heading to Stoke versus Blackburn to see if Spurs will be able to cope with a wet Tuesday night in Stoke.
We trek to Ye Olde Black Lion for Brixton Pale Ale, where it's unusually busy and full of disbelieving Hammers. When did Dinos turn into Franz Beckenbauer? Matt thinks that giving him the captaincy at Burton might have been the turning point. Rarely can a much-derided player have turned it round in such a fashion.
Never mind returning astronauts, West Ham should be tomorrow's front page news. We're out of the bottom three and two points clear of Spurs. The pressure is on them. Anything could yet happen, but we managed to win a must-win game and the impetus is now with the Hammers. Come on you Irons!
PLAYER RATINGS: Hermansen 6; Walker-Peters 7, Disasi 7, Mavropanos 9, Diouf 7; Soucek 7, Fernandes 7 (Magassa n/a); Bowen 8, Castellanos 8, (Wilson 7), Pablo 7 (Potts 6), Summerville 7 (Traore 6).
1 comment:
Nice to see a few more staying until the end but these 8pm kick offs are terrible for travel etc
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