WHU blog: A deserved draw.

Last night's game at Upton Park was a tense affair, with both teams 'going for it' and showing masses of desire and spirit to try and win the game. Both teams played as well as each other and had genuine chances to score more goals than they actually did. How do I know this? I was there with my dad and my good mate Liam (a Southampton fan by the way) after he subjected me to St Marys and its inferior atmosphere earlier in the season at the reverse fixture between Southampton and West Ham.

Me and my dad were there cheering on a West Ham team who (in my opinion) played some of the best football they've played this season. Liam on the other hand was criticising the hopeless bubble machine at the side of the pitch and also criticising the referee (I'll come to him soon).

Southampton had more possession and more shots, but having both of those doesn't guarantee you more goals than your opponent. It's no secret that against a weaker team, Southampton would have scored at least 4 or 5 goals, but they weren't against a weaker team - they were against the team with the 4th best defence in the Championship. Tomkins, Faye and Reid were superb, they kept out what seemed like a million shots from the Saints and Rob Green made some great saves.

After 2 penalty appeals waved away by referee Lee Probert, West Ham were given a penalty after Billy Sharp fouled Mark Noble. however I didn't really see what followed. Apparentley, Matt Taylor (West Ham) punched Billy Sharp (Southamption) in the face, to be honest all I saw of the incident was Sharp going down like a sack of spuds holding his face. The referee then showed Taylor a red card. I can't be sure whether it was a punch in the face or a push in the chest. Mark Noble then converted the penalty, a great feeling at any time in a game but for Mark it must have been a special moment considering it was his 200th career match and that he was captain as well.

The rest of the first half was pretty much dominated by West Ham, with our best chance falling to  Winston Reid, who had a clear shot on goal and skied it! During this half, the referee Lee Probert had an absolute shocker, as I mentioned before he missed 2 obvious penalties for West Ham he made poor decision after poor decison. You never want to see poor decisions from a referee, but waht I can't stand is when referees are inconsistent and Mr Probert was certainly that! In the second half, he judged that James Tomkins had fouled a Southampton player while both were going for a header, but before that, he didn't give a foul when a Southampton player did the exact same thing!

The second half was Southampton's, with very few West Ham chances. Adam Lallana was great (the sort of quality West Ham need!), however he couldn't find a way past the wall of claret and blue.
West Ham had to break at some point and they did when Jos Hooiveld slotted home an equaliser and that's when Southampton really came to life. They were all over West Ham but as usual, West Ham stayed strong and didn't concede.

West Ham player ratings:

Starting 11

Green:  9/10 -
Reid: 7/10
Tomkins: 8/10
Faye: 8/10
O'Brien: 6/10
Collison: 5/10 (subbed off after 21 mins)
Noble: 8/10
Faubert: 8/10
Taylor:4/10
Vaz Te: 8/10
Cole: 7/10

Subs

McCartney: 6/10
Lansbury: N/A
O'Neil: 6/10
Baldock: N/A
Maynard: 6/10


Come on you Irons!

TB 2012