Brady penalty sees off Hammers

Hull City 1-0 West Ham United
Barclays Premier League

Robbie Brady's early penalty sent West Ham United to a 1-0 defeat at Hull City in the Barclays Premier League on Saturday.

Brady converted from the spot with just 12 minutes on the clock after Joey O'Brien was harshly punished for a push on the Irishman.

It proved enough to secure a second successive win for the newly-promoted Tigers, who soaked up plenty of West Ham possession as they held on to their lead.

West Ham had claims for a spot kick of their own turned down in the second period when referee Kevin Friend failed to spot a Jake Livermore handball and the Hammers were left with a long journey home.

After an opening ten minutes notable only for Kevin Nolan's booking for a rash tackle on Rosenior, Hull were handed the chance to move in front when they were awarded a twelfth minute penalty.

It looked a soft award as Friend spotted a push on Brady by O'Brien and the Hammers players made their feelings to the referee known.

Brady did not care though, and he sent Jussi Jaaskelainen the wrong way from the spot.

The Hammers could not have come closer to a leveller 11 minutes later when James Tomkins got up to head Mark Noble's corner goalwards. Allan McGregor was beaten, but not Ahmed Elmohamady, who cleared the ball off the line.

Mohamed Diame also had a header deflected behind for a corner, but Hull then had a spell of pressure of their own, but Modibo Maiga dropping back to the goalline to clear Curtis Davies' header off the line, before Jaaskelainen then had to claw Elmohamady's headed effort onto the upright.

Clear chances were hard to come by at either end, although eight minutes after the break Diame stung McGregor's palms with a rising drive from the edge of the box.

Sam Allardyce introduced Mladen Petric, Stewart Downing and Ricardo Vaz Te from the bench as the Hammers searched for an equaliser, but Jake Livermore almost wrapped it up for his side when he struck the base of the post with his low drive from 25 yards.

Fifteen minutes from time the Hammers had huge claims for a spot kick turned down when Livermore appeared to knock the ball behind for a corner with his arm.

Referee Friend was unmoved, much to the consternation of the visitors, who had another opportunity seven minutes from the end when Vaz Te fired a free-kick too high.

Despite the Hammers enjoying a near monopoly on possession in the closing stages, they could not find a way through on a frustrating afternoon in Yorkshire.

Hull City: McGregor; Rosenior, Faye, Davies, Figueroa; Elmohamady, Huddlestone, Livermore, Brady (Meyler 80), Aluko (Boyd 89), Graham (Sagbo 71)
Subs: Harper, Bruce, McShane, Quinn

Goal: Brady pen 12

Booked: Graham

West Ham United: Jaaskelainen; O'Brien, Tomkins, Reid, Rat; Morrison, Noble, Nolan; Diame (Downing 71), Maiga (Petric 59), Jarvis (Vaz Te 71)
Subs: Adrian, Taylor, Collins, Demel

Booked: Nolan, Morrison

Referee: Kevin Friend