IT'S a great start to the New Year for the Hammers, after
Marlon Harewood's early strike and a Matty Etherington goal in
the last minute earned West Ham United a fantastic 2-0 win over
Championship leaders Ipswich Town at Portman Road.
Alan Pardew was without the experienced duo of Teddy Sheringham and
Steve Lomas, suffering respectively from ankle and calf injuries
sustained at Rotherham on Tuesday. Fit-again Carl Fletcher returned
to the midfield after missing two games with a groin problem, while
Bobby Zamora earned a recall in attack, starting for the first time
in five games.
West Ham made the perfect start to 2005, taking the lead with just
55 seconds on the clock. A short back-pass left Ipswich goalkeeper
Kelvin Davis under pressure from the approaching Marlon Harewood,
and as Davis tried to go around the Hammers striker Harewood robbed
him of the ball and rolled it into the unguarded net.
On 17 minutes Alan Pardew's side had the ball in the net again.
After Zamora had won a free-kick, Etherington's ball into the
box was fired home by Hammers captain Nigel Reo-Coker from close
range. But West Ham's celebrations were cut short when referee
Taylor ruled the goal out for offside.
Still Hammers swept forward, roared on by a passionate travelling
contingent. Just five minutes later the hard-working Zamora slipped
Gavin Williams in, but he shot straight at Davis from 12 yards out.
The ball rebounded off the Ipswich goalkeeper and was smuggled
clear from the circling Harewood.
With West Ham dominating, Stephen Bywater was nothing more than an
interested spectator. He was partially woken after half an hour by
a Darren Currie drive from the edge of the area, but gathered
Ipswich's first goal-bound effort with ease.
He then had to be alert to parry a treacherous Currie free-kick
that had alluded everyone inside the Hammers penalty box.
Ipswich began to grow in confidence as the half progressed,
encouraged by a crackling atmosphere at Portman Road. However,
Hammers defence, which paired Tomas Repka and Malky Mackay in the
heart of a back four, remained solid to send Alan Pardew's side
in 1-0 ahead at the break.
HT: 1-0
With the second-half just three minutes old West Ham were on the
attack again. Reo-Coker found Etherington on the left, whose
whipped cross would have found Zamora at the back post had Richard
Naylor not intervened.
A similar chance at the other end saw Chris Powell intercept Shefki
Kuqi's cross under pressure from Tommy Miller.
The willing Bobby Zamora earned his fifth booking of the season
seven minutes into the second-half for a foul on Fabian Wilnis, and
will now face a one-match suspension. However, it failed to dampen
the striker's enthusiastic performance.
The Hammers weren't the only ones letting their passions run
high, though. On the hour Kuqi committed a foul on Carl Fletcher
then proceeded to square up to the Hammers midfielder, receiving
little reaction from Fletcher and a yellow card for his troubles.
Joe Royle brought on teenager Dean Bowditch for the ineffective
Darren Bent, but still it was West Ham that made the running. On 64
minutes another dangerous Etherington free-kick was met by Zamora,
but his header went straight at Kelvin Davis.
Zamora left the field seven minutes later to be replaced by Sergei
Rebrov, just before Hayden Mullins received a yellow card for
hauling down Bowditch.
The Ipswich forward was causing some nervous moments in West
Ham's defence and with ten minutes left he almost wriggled away
from Fletcher, before the tenacious former Bournemouth player got
back to make a tackle.
Stephen Bywater then had to make a smart block at his near post
from Bowditch's shot on the turn and did well to hold Jason De
Vos' late header.
With just a minute of normal time remaining Harewood's cross
was cleared only as far as Rebrov, who hammered in a shot that
Davis could only parry at the feet of Etherington. The winger
duly slotted home from close range to get 2005 off to a perfect
start with a resounding 2-0 victory.