Columbus Crew 1 West Ham 3
West Ham started with Green, Neill, Ferdinand, Davenport, Widdowson, Faubert, Noble, Parker, Reid, Bellamy, Ashton.
West Ham started well applying some early pressure. Bellamy got an early shot in, which flew wide right in the fourth minute. Two minutes later Ashton turned and shot from the edge of the penalty area. His shot was too good for Gruenebaum in goal who was unable to do anything to stop the shot flying home.
It was a superb goal from the West Ham striker, a shot that even Zamora would have been proud of.
In the 15th minute Bellamy crossed from the right and Ashton's headed shot just missed the Crew goal wide right. Zamora would probably have converted the effort, but then again Zamora is good enough to play for England.
With West Ham dominating play it was only a matter of time before Crew got on the score sheet. In the 20th minute Jason Garey beat Ferdinand to meet Elenio's right-wing cross with his head to even the score.
West Ham, despite the lack of Zamora up front, refused to let their head drop and regained the lead five minutes later. The goal was an own goal by Crew's Brad Evans, who under pressure from Mark Noble gifted the lead back to West Ham. Crew were left to rue the fact that they didn't have Zamora in defence.
After West Ham's second goal both sides looked fairly even for the rest of the half. Bellamy and Ashton looked good up front with Bellamy working the flanks well and pulling the Crew defence out of position.
In the second half Cole came out in place of Ashton. Crew had an early effort when Elenio smashed a ball against the bar in the 46th minute. In the 52nd minute however Bellamy raced forward with the ball from the half-way line and squared the ball for Reid to shoot home. A few minutes later and Reid was replaced by Stanislas and Noble was replaced by Mullins.
In the 70th minute Davenport was replaced by Jordan Spence whilst Parker was replaced by Jack Collison. Six minutes later and Walker came on for Robert Green and Tony Stokes replaced Faubert. A few minutes after that N'Gala came on for Ferdinand.
In the end West Ham deserved their win with Bellamy, Ashton and Faubert all looking sharp.
Attendance: 9,117
posted by Keir Clarke @ 10:19 PM
7 comments
7 Comments:
i supprised barca didn't go for zamora and we should have got at least 15million :) this lad is world class
lol love the sarcasm.
gotta love zamora.
Good game - West Ham was a little rusty.
Davenport was terrible. Just trash. The Crew were playing their second team and he was being torn to shreds.
Widdowson, who I had never heard, did a solid job filling in on the left, but he was playing against the second team of the Crew, I think there's potential there but we'll see.
Ashton's goal showed how much better West Ham's class was, with a simple turn and he easily scored. Probably should have had more, but with the short pitch it was made for long balls not the delayed possession that Ashton is far more comfortable with.
Other notes - around 3 or 4 West Ham fans (the Big Soccer boards are suggesting more like 10-15, but from my vantage point it was 3 or 4) decided it would be fun to rush the Crew corner (basically where the "actual" fans sit). Threw a couple beers and ended up getting the shit kicked out of themselves. The people behind us said they had escaped and that the fans were definitely maced (along with a number of bystanders).
After walking out there was clearly a police presence and a number of additional cops came lights a blaring full-speed.
I believe the ICF (or some wankers who thought they could pretend) claimed to have a presence. [Having never had the opportunity to see a game at the Boleyn Ground I couldn't tell you if that sort of banner (ICF undefeated 30 years, the Hammers in the upper left and British Rail symbol in the upper right of St. George's cross) is normal or not.] I'm not entirely sure what ended up going down, but I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't a good ole fashioned throw down afterward.
So Zamora scored against Celtic. good for him.
He will make a good go of it at Fulham whether sarcastic susans like you like it or not.
The point isn t whether he s good enough to play for england or not,muppet.
real world class acquisition that 17 year old from iceland.
stick to your day job, which evidently isn t stand up comedy . and stick your sarcasm with the blue flag. you and the timewaster from tonbridge.
good riddance
Thanks pinski - good report. I read somewhere this morning (I can't remember where) that the police said all those arrested last night were American. Not that it means they weren't West Ham fans just that they might have been more fans of Green Street than the club.
The Zamora comments were aimed at Zamora being quoted as saying he is as good as Ashton and could play for England. I have no reason to doubt Zamora - and I wished we hadn't sold him but that's no reason to have a humour bypass.
Nice showing in the stands. American fans are all mouth. really nothing at all, but made nation headlines in America
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