For West Ham the ghost of relegation may finally be starting to fade after a fourth successive clean sheet at home, and a second successive win. That it came against another of the sides battling at the bottom of the Premier League will only make the victory taste sweeter, but the reality is that despite being a goal up for almost the entire game, a man up for nearly half of it and two men to the good by the end, the home side were still far from convincing.
Carlton Cole’s goal, the second of the game, came from what was by some distance the best move of the match, even if it consisted of just a single pass – Julien Faubert’s superbly weighted through-ball – and a smart, calm clipped finish. People will also talk of a 70th-minute shot from inside his own half by the frequently frustrating Alessandro Diamanti which drew a save from Boaz Myhill, though it would almost certainly have missed the target had he left it. The performance from the home side was adequate, and no more.
Hull’s was considerably less. Thirteen league games now without a win and soon to celebrate, if that’s the right word, the first anniversary of their last success away from home, the visitors played pretty much to form throughout and a series of miserable gaffes started in just the third minute. Tom Cairney surrendered possession to Valon Behrami, who passed to Guillermo Franco. The Mexican, making his first appearance of 2010, miscontrolled so badly that the ball bobbled perfectly into the path of Behrami, who scored with ease from 15 yards.
Myhill made two decent saves in the first half, both also from Behrami and the second, after the midfielder headed Diamanti’s cross from close range, quite excellent. Then seven minutes into the second half Craig Fagan, already booked for fouling Scott Parker, gave the slightest tug to Diamanti’s shirt, the Italian tumbled theatrically and Hull were down to 10 men.
Shortly after the second goal they made a triple substitution, always something of a calculated risk. It didn’t work out well: although one of the new players, Jozy Altidore, missed a decent chance in the 74th minute it left them with no further options when their captain, Anthony Gardner, fell awkwardly in the 81st minute. He was carried off on a stretcher, left leg heavily strapped, and Hull ended the game with nine men.
Their numerical disadvantage might explain the third goal, when Faubert collected Radoslav Kovac’s pass, ran into the area without the merest hint of a challenge and thumped a shot into the top left corner. A miserable end to another miserable Hull performance
West Ham UnitedHull CityPremier LeagueSimon Burntonguardian.co.uk
