West Ham United v Oxford United
Carling Cup second round
Boleyn Ground
Tuesday 24 August 2010
Kick-off: 7.45pm
Referee: James Linington
Final score - West Ham United 1-0 Oxford United
It might have been a long time coming but a win is a win is a win. Avram Grant can celebrate his first competitive victory as Hammers boss and we can all have a slightly earlier night than it looked like being two minutes from full-time. Stech is named man of the match and nobody can argue with that, as the young Czech enjoyed a very solid night on his first-team debut. At the age of 20, he showed no signs of nerves. Other positives were the performance of Tomkins at centre-back and McCarthy when he came on as substitute. The South African held the ball up well and played a part in the winning goal. So, with a clean sheet and the third-round draw to look forward to, it's all aboard for a trip to Old Trafford to face Manchester United on Saturday. For those who cannot make it, that game will be screened live by ESPN, kicking-off at 5.30pm.
94 mins - About 30 seconds after kicking-off, Oxford are halted by the final whistle.
93 mins - GOAL! Thank goodness for that. McCarthy gets the ball out wide right to Piquionne, who drives at the Oxford defence before pulling the ball into the path of Parker, who makes no mistake with a carbon-copy of the chance he came close with ten minutes or so earlier. As Parker celebrates with the fans in the Bobby Moore Stand lower, Stech is going mental at the other end, jumping up and down in front of the majority of the 20,902 fans inside the stadium.
92 mins - Oxford are ending the 90 minutes on the offensive, and Tomkins has to be in the right place to stop Oxford getting through.
90 mins - Clist brings down McCarthy about 20 yards out. Noble will take the free-kick. West Ham have filled the box with six attackers as we enter the first of at least three added minutes. Noble misses the target.
88 mins - West Ham have the ball in the net, but it won't count. McCarthy was offside before Cole buried his knock-down...
86 mins - Potter is replaced by Matt Green.
84 mins - Parker flicks Faubert's pass to McCarthy. His pass drops to Barrera, whose shot is blocked on the edge of the box.
83 mins - Spector finds Barrera, who bursts down the left before crossing. It lands on the top of the net. This is very frustrating.
82 mins - Noble picks out Piquionne with a lofted through ball. The Frenchman is onside but can't control. Clarke gathers and punts upfield. Constable tries his luck from a mile out and Stech has to be alert to clutch his swerving shot.
80 mins - Good football and an even better save. Tomkins rampages forward 50 yards before feeding Piquionne, who cuts inside his marker before picking out Parker. The Hammer of the Year shoots first-time and Clarke makes a superb stop with his left hand low down.
79 mins - Cole shoots low from 25 yards, but the ball eludes McCarthy's right boot and is held by Clarke low down to his right. Eleven minutes remaining...
77 mins - Oxford win another corner down the right. McCarthy is waiting to come on. It's going to be taken left footed... Piquionne heads clear and when the ball is crossed back into the penalty area, an Oxford player is offside. Sears is replaced by McCarthy.
75 mins - Piquionne picks out Cole about ten yards out. He tries to spin and shoot left footed but completely makes a hash of it and Wright clears.
72 mins - Noble puts a bit more loft on his corner and it finds Piquionne's forehead, but he can only direct his header back beyond the near post and out for a goal kick.
71 mins - A change for Oxford, who replace Bulman with Richie Baker. Cole wins another corner...
70 mins - The Noble corner is cleared to Barrera and worked left to right to Faubert. His cross hits an Oxford head and falls to Sears, who can only lean back and steer the ball over the top with his left foot.
69 mins - I think that was a cross from Hall, but it needed Stech to reach high above his head to catch. Stech has had a solid game tonight and shown no nerves on his debut. West Ham break immediately and the ball falls to Barrera, whose shot clips a heel and goes behind for a corner.
67 mins - Oxford break down the right and the speedy Hall wins a corner off Spector, the ball looping just over the crossbar on to the roof of the net.
65 mins - Worley is allowed to bring the ball forward about 40 yards before shooting. Thankfully, he drags a daisy-cutter along the grass and out for a goal kick.
63 mins - Piquionne latches on to Noble's pass and tries to find Cole, but once again an Oxford defender is there to cut the ball out.
62 mins - Stanislas is the man to be replaced by Cole. Sears goes wide right, Barrera wide left and Cole up alongside Piquionne.
61 mins - Piquionne has another golden chance, after the ball is fed to him by Sears, but he takes one touch too many and allows Clarke to smother. Moments later, Noble does well and sets Piquionne away again inside the box. He squares back into the path of Noble, but he cannot divert the ball on target.
60 mins - Cole is coming on very soon...
58 mins - Good defending from Spector to head clear bravely after Ben Haim had sent the ball looping into the centre of the pitch about 25 yards from the Hammers goal. The American ducked in bravely ahead of Constable.
55 mins - Cole is out warming up on the touchline. I don't think it will be too long until we see him enter the fray.
53 mins - West Ham really need to up the pace here and start moving Oxford around a bit. Noble wins the ball back and tries to set Sears away down the right. West Ham have a throw and Sears sees his shot blocked to Piquionne. He cuts inside and flashes a powerful low shot just past the near post.
52 mins - Another shot on target, this time from Heslop, who flashes a bouncing volley a couple of yards wide of the post.
50 mins - The atmosphere is a bit subdued here. The Hammers need to provide the home fans with something to get excited about. Faubert does his best and wins a corner. Noble crosses and Ben Haim is penalised for holding his marker.
48 mins - Faubert has arrived, by the way, 51 seconds late.
46 mins - Sears and Parker kick-off on a still night in east London. West Ham actually kicked-off with ten men as Faubert was still in the dressing room! Oxford nearly take advantage as Ben Haim misjudges Worley's long clearance and Clist nearly gets in behind Barrera to score. Thankfully, the substitute's shot is woeful.
The West Ham subs are out on the pitch warming up. Da Costa, Kovac and McCarthy are being put through their paces by fitness coach Eamon Swift. The Hammers are the first back out on to the pitch following their half-time break. It looks like Grant is going to send out an unchanged XI for the second 45 minutes. Oxford, meanwhile, have made a change, bringing on Simon Clist for former Hammers schoolboy Mitchell Cole.
Half-time score - West Ham United 0-0 Oxford United
46 mins - Stech has done well on his debut, as has Ben Haim, but manager Avram Grant will be expecting a lot more after the break.
45 mins - We're going to have at least one added minute.
44 mins - Spector throws the ball in and Wright heads out for a corner, which comes to nothing. West Ham keep up the pressure and Noble beats two defenders before the ball falls to Barrera. He cuts inside one defender but cannot control his shot, which flies over the top.
42 mins - Hall has a speculative dig from about 30 yards and his effort is arrowing towards the top corner before Stech sticks out a big left hand and pushes the ball behind for a corner. Top save. The corner is lofted over to the back post and Constable hits it on the volley, sending the ball a couple of yards over the crossbar.
41 mins - Parker starts an attack with a typically strong run. Noble fines Barrera, whose cross is blocked straight to Faubert. His shot hits a defender and bounces behind for a corner, which Worley clears.
37 mins - Another corner for the hosts as Faubert overlaps Barrera and wins the set piece off Clarke. Worley heads clear powerfully.
35 mins - As I type, Piquionne should score, or at least hit the target from Faubert's right-wing cross. That was a real chance. He was unmarked about six yards out, but could only glance his header wide of the far post.
34 mins - The Oxford fans, all credit to them, are still singing their hearts out. To be honest, their team are holding their own so far.
30 mins - Ben Haim initially misjudges the bounce, allowing Constable to momentarily get behind the Hammers back-four. Faubert holds the Us captain up before Ben Haim gets a toe in to stab the ball outside the box.
28 mins - Better from Stanislas, who cuts inside Purkiss and sees his low shot flick off Wright and behind for a corner. The ball flies out of the box to Barrera, whose left-foot shot is an easy enough catch for Clarke.
26 mins - Faubert's cross is flicked on by Piquionne into the head or Worley and behind for a corner. Unfortunately, it comes to nothing and the ball rolls out for a throw on the near side.
25 mins - Good again from Potter, who plays an inadvertant one-two off Parker before warming Stech's gloves with a well-struck effort from 25 yards. Stech is solid and gets his body behind the ball well. West Ham go on the attack and Sears gets to the byline, but his pull-back is too close to Clarke, who falls on the ball.
22 mins - Another cross from the right, this time from the boot of Barrera, flies behind the goal and into the Oxford hordes.
20 mins - Parker finds Spector, who shoots speculatively from about 30 yards with his left foot. The ball floats through into the hands of the Oxford goalkeeper, but it was a shot on target.
18 mins - A cross from deep from Faubert bounces into the arms of Clarke.
17 mins - West Ham go up the other end and fire a shot across Oxford's bows. Spector digs out a cross from the left and the headed clearance from Wright falls to Stanislas. The winger volleys the ball powerfully, but well off-target,
16 mins - A chance! For Oxford, though, rather than the hosts. Cole breaks clear down the left and beats Barrera before crossing low towards Constable. The ball is behind the Us captain though, and he can't get enough power on the shot to beat Stech.
15 mins - Timmy Mallett is here! He's a bit late, but he gets here just in time to see Barrera's cross headed clear. No clear-cut chances for either side as yet.
14 mins - The speedy Potter gets the wrong side of Spector but his cross is cut out by Ben Haim. The Israeli has looked good so far - very composed on the ball.
12 mins - Asa Hall picks up possession and drives forward, holding off Faubert before shooting low, but his effort is blocked by Ben Haim.
10 mins - Oxford have a throw down the right and work the ball to Purkiss, who skips to the byline and lofts over a dangerous cross to the back post, where Faubert does well to head clear under pressure from Cole.
9 mins - Barrera is getting himself involved heavily down the right, picking up from where he left off on Saturday. His low cross towards Stanislas is blocked, though. This is the first West Ham match Robert Green has not started since the Carling Cup third-round tie at Watford two seasons ago.
6 mins - Stanislas comes forward again and sees the ball loop up off an Oxford defender and land at the feet of Barrera. The Mexican tries to cut inside his marker but is tackled. Moments later, the ball finds Parker, but his long-range shot is way too high.
4 mins - Stanislas wins the ball back and finds Sears. He tries to steer the ball wide for Barrera, but his pass is overhit and goes behind for a goal kick. West Ham just need to be patient, because they are going to see plenty of possession tonight.
2 mins - Noble's right-wing corner is headed powerfully over the top by James Tomkins.
1 min - A first touch for debutant Marek Stech, who sends the ball upfield. Twenty seconds later, Parker finds Piquionne, who works Clarke with a low drive that the goalkeeper can only touch around the post for a corner.
7.45pm - We're off, with Oxford kicking towards the Bobby Moore Stand end,,,
7.43pm - Marek Stech and Tal Ben Haim get a decent welcome on their debuts. The Oxford players are off doing a last-minute warm-up in front of their supporters. Novel. The three mascots have had their photos taken and the captains are now going through the usual pre-match pleasantries with referee James Linington. Oxford will kick-off...
7.42pm - Here come the two teams, led by captains Scott Parker and James Constable. The home fans are singing 'Bubbles', while the away fans are throwing blue and yellow balloons into their air. They are loving their big night out at the Boleyn Ground. Hopefully, they won't be singing quite so happily come 9.35pm!
7.40pm - It is a perfect evening for football here in east London. The sun is setting to the west and there are just a few clouds floating in a light blue sky overhead. One might even call the atmosphere serene. It won't be in about two minutes when the two teams emerge from the tunnel, though!
7.35pm - The two teams are back in their respective dressing rooms getting some last minute instruction from managers Avram Grant and Chris Wilder. The crowd is estimated at 20,000-plus, which is not a bad turnout at all.
7.30pm - The Boleyn Ground is filling up ahead of kick-off and the fans who are here are being treated to a pitch-side interview with pop star Chesney Hawkes! The Oxford supporters are singing their hearts out behind the goal to my left. There are about 3,000 of them in the Sir Trevor Brooking Stand lower tier.
Good evening and welcome to the Boleyn Ground for what promises to be an exciting evening of Carling Cup football. Oxford United - back in the Football League following a four-year absence this season - provide the opposition for this evening's second-round tie.
It is the first time the two sides' paths have crossed since the 1992/93 season, when the Hammers and Us shared the spoils courtesy of a Division One victory apiece. Those two matches saw Andy Melville find the target on both occasions. The former West Ham, Oxford and Wales centre-back returns to east London this evening as part of the visitors' coaching staff.
Back to this evening and Czech Republic Under-21 goalkeeper Marek Stech and Israel defender Tal Ben Haim will both make their debuts for West Ham, becoming the 813th and 814th players to represent the club at first-team level.
Freddie Sears will make his first start for the club since the Barclays Premier League visit of West Bromwich Albion on 16 March 2009, while Jonathan Spector makes his first start of 2010/11 at left-back.
Further forward, Hammer of the Year Scott Parker captains the side, while Junior Stanislas will make his first start of the new campaign on the left flank.
West Ham United: Stech, Faubert, Tomkins, Ben Haim, Spector, Barrera, Parker, Noble, Stanislas, Sears (McCarthy 77), Piquionne (Cole 62)
Subs: Green, Da Costa, Ilunga, Kovac, Boa Morte
Oxford United: Clarke, Purkiss, Wright, Worley, Tonkin, Bulman (Baker 71), Heslop, Potter (Green 86), Hall, Cole (Clist 46), Constable
Subs: Eastwood, Creighton, Deering, Midson