Rutashubanyuma
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- Sep 24, 2010
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West Ham v Birmingham City - as it happened
West Ham have Victor Obinna sent off but take a lead into the second leg of their Carling Cup semi-final thanks to Ben Foster's howler
Carling Cup Semi-Final L1
West Ham United 2
West Ham have Victor Obinna sent off but take a lead into the second leg of their Carling Cup semi-final thanks to Ben Foster's howler
Carling Cup Semi-Final L1
West Ham United 2
- Noble 13,
- Cole 78
- Ridgewell 56
- Barney Ronay
- guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 11 January 2011 18.36 GMT <li class="history">Article history
Scott Parker challenges Stephen Carr. Photograph: Clive Rose/Getty Images 7.32pm: Hello and welcome to live coverage of the Carling Cup semi final first leg between West Ham and Birmingham, two teams who are currently in the Premier League gutter but still gazing at the slightly peripheral Carling Cup stars.Quick. Here are the teams:
West Ham Green, Faubert, Tomkins, Reid, Upson, Spector, Sears, Noble, Parker, Obinna, Piquionne.
Birmingham Foster, Carr, Dann, Johnson, Ridgewell, Larsson, Gardner, Hleb, Ferguson, Fahey, Jerome.
7.36pm: So it's the old big-man-big-man up front for West Ham, with big man Carlton Cole lurking on the bench. Actually come to think of it Obinna will probably play on the left. And Matthew Upson is at left back. Eh?
The enigmatic Hleb starts for Birmingham.7.39pm: Upson will be up against probably Blues' greatest threat in Larsson with his surgical right foot. But who knows. It might work out.7.41pm: A big night for Avram Grant, and a big night for that team selection, which manages to be both tactically negative and an obvious gamble all at the same time.7.42pm: Alex McLeish: "Put it this way, I'm not going out with four centre forwards". We could be in for a thriller - or, alternatively something of a wrestle. You've got to love McLeish. He's so flinty, but also twinkly and wry.7.45pm: McLeish won 15 trophies in Scotland. OK, it's Scotland. But that's a lot of trophies.7.47pm: Upson hasn't played left back for six years. Birmingham do rely on set pieces a lot. Maybe that's what it's about.1 min Birmingham kick off and immediately hoof it forward towards Jerome. The ball bounces through to Green as Jerome chugs after it. He is already completely isolated and looks to be in for an evening of lone cross country running. Gardner pings in a nice whipped early cross from the right but there's nobody near it. Quite noisy inside Upton Park where they are as ever blowing pri'eee BABawws in theee ay-uh.
4 mins Not much happening yet. Birmingham are keeping the ball in their own half and - ahem - taking the sting out of the game, but we've yet to see if there was actually any sting in the game to start with. Cagey stuff but then this is a 180-minute game. Obinna does well to win a corner and that's a bit more like it.
6 mins Parker takes the corner, Foster flaps horribly and Spector shins the loose ball wide of the goal. Encouraging for West Ham though. I'm looking forward to seeing Sears tonight. He is a talented player never mind his goal stats. West Ham need his youthful vim, not to mention his ability to actually control the ball in forward areas.
7 mins Good save from Foster from, believe it or not, Upson, who makes a block tackle on the goal line six yards form the Birmingham goal and forces Foster into a lightning block. This is a good start now from West Ham who seem to be the only team, really interested in attacking. Upson was involved twice in that attack and is currently doing a passable impersonation of Roberto Carlos.
10 mins Larsson eludes Upson slightly too easily as the big man takes up to 30 seconds to rotate his hulking frame through 180 degrees. The Swede then whips in a nice flat cross which is headed clear. That does look like an interesting little battle.
13 mins GOAL West Ham 1-0 Birmingham. Brilliant play from Noble to create it, breaking from midfield and beating two men before dinking in a cross. The ball finally breaks back to him as Birmingham fail woefully to clear and Noble smashes it into the net past the unsighted Foster. Lovely West Ham goal.
16 mins That goal probably won't change much. There's still a very long way to go in this tie. Machiel Akkerman asks: "Which team in this contest would be Iran or Iraq following up on your earlier MBM?" Neither. No great sheikhs on either side. Tish. Boom. I'll go.
19 mins Birmingham have done absolutely nothing in this game, except defend badly for the goal. But wait, here comes Gardner in some space on the right wing, he plays the ball back to Carr and his low cross is taken by the belly-flopping Green. William Marzouk writes "Re: the goal. Well done Avram Grant." And why not. Upson once again flies down the left wing like cantering foal and ins a corner. It comes to nothing, but still some fine early attacking from West Ham. Rightly are they blowing bubbles.
22 mins Spector picks up the ball lurking in his hole, Sneijder-like, advances in on goal and absolutely thrashes a shot in on goal, but straight at Foster who batters it away. From the corner Foster again saves well, palming over from Piquionne, who really should have put that either side of him. There's only one team in this right now. West Ham are romping about like schoolboys.
25 mins Bick Eck is up and pointing at people as Birmingham try to reorganise. But West Ham press well, Jerome can't control a long pass and Reid punts it clear. Birmingham are having a lot more of the ball at the moment but they just don't have much guile close to goal. Zigic is warming up. He looks like a pylon in a tracksuit.
27 mins Oh I say that's a beautiful dinked pass forward into the path of Piquionne by Sears in mid-stride but he can't control it and the ball is two-left-footed out of play for a goal kick. What a nice piece of skill that was.
30 mins Birmingham again have lots of very static possession in midfield as though they're just waiting for an opening, like a very slow Barcelona, but then just hump it forward to Jerome. Back down the other end West Ham break quickly and Obinna has another stinging shot at goal that Foster saves well. He's having a good game. And McLeish is up again. He looks cross.
33 mins Obinna has yet another shot. He seems to have taken on board first principles: you need to boot the ball into the other person's goal. But after that it's sometimes hazy. Sears then has another chance steering wide from Faubert's cross from the right. West Ham might end up wishing they'd got another goal out of this period of dominance. Birmingham can't stay this bad.
36 mins Still nothing doing for Birmingham, who really don't look like a cup-winning team right now. Most of their players are simply walking about when they've got the ball. They look set in an away team two-legged mentality, but you still have to play a little bit. Poor old Jerome looks finished already. He's running for 11.
39 mins More long passes to Jerome, who's double-marked. Frankly, West Ham could have Karen Brady at left back and it wouldn't matter tonight. Sears has another shot from the edge of the box when he might have passed to Faubert. West Ham aren't making clear chances despite all their possession. A more confident side would be really pressing here.
42 mins Obinna thrashes another shot wide from an unpromising angle. Four or five West Ham players wave their arms about. Maybe he has a form of myopia. Justin Kavanagh plugs: "As someone who has written a book about the cult of the English manager, does it surprise you that someone like Avram Grant has fitted into the top level of English football so easily, and continues to find very lucrative employment in England?" He's perhaps an example of the way it's going. Managers are finished, really, in the classic Jock Stein-ian sense. Power has shifted elsewhere. And Grant is comfortable doing what he's told in some vital areas.
44 mins Birmingham free kick punted in at pace by Larsson and headed well over by Dann who rises massively in the middle. That is their best chance of the half. And Simon Robinson writes from Brazil: "Another little fact from Brazil - the word for when a goalkeeper makes a huge blunder is something along the lines of "legs of the chicken". In Portuguese, the word for chicken is "frango" and the commentators are still referring to Rob Green's famous world cup frango". Mmmm. Rob Green frango. Delicious.
45+1 mins HALF TIME West Ham 1-0 Birmingham The half ends, atypically, with Birmingham on the attack. Wets Ham will wonder how they've failed to get a second as that was surely their most dominant half of the season. Dann was stretchered off at the end of that half by the way too, so plenty of problems for Big Eck to shout about at half time.
Luke Crane asks: "So are you saying with your blurb at the start, that Grant is infact a genius?" Yeah. What he said. Back in a few moments.
David Adelman makes a good point: "Just to point out that if WHU go on to win here Grant's record will be W4D2L1 in recent games. Albeit the defeat was an utter hammering at the hands of Newcastle but that isn't bad form. Several games have not featured their Capt. Fantastic Scott Parker either." Maybe he is a genius. Bit odd to get sacked on the back of that but then odd things do happen.
Andrew Ronay asks: "Does Kenny Dalglish dye his hair?" He does look surprisingly well. He could probably do loads of botox and no one would ever notice. Oh, his face never moves, they'll say. but his face has never moved.
BBC replays are suggesting Birmingham might have had a vague shout for a penalty for handball against Reid in that half but there's not much in it.
Birmingham have brought Murphy on for Dann, who has twanged a hamstring.
46 mins West Ham kick off again with Bubbles still swirling about around a very glum looking Avram as he knots his horribly uncomfortable-looking scarf. And Grant has just asked someone else on the bench to do his jacket up for him. Weirdly he couldn't quite reach the buttons.
49 mins Another punted long pass towards Jerome. He fouls Tomkins and that's the end of that. Right now Birmingham have one tactic - and it's a bad tactic. Gardner has just won a free kick quite close to goal though. This is promising. Larsson is very good with these.
51 mins Instead it's Gardner who smashes a low shot past the wall and wide. That was always going wide and was frankly a bit of a waste, but Birmingham are predictably transformed here after 15 minutes with McLeish and they've got a corner now too, and now another one as Johnson performs a jinking nutmegging dribble on the edge of the area. This time around it's West Ham who haven't really started.
55 mins It's all Birmingham now as Larsson whips in one of his special free kicks from the left, but it's well caught by Green. West Ham break quickly and Sears almost gets on the end of a bouncing ball in the area, letting it drop but then finding his shot blocked. Matt Phillips notes: "After Andrew Ronay's appearance on MBM I'm half expecting you to receive an email from karen brady asking whether you find it tricky to pick emails from your son". That email was selected on merit.
56 mins GOAL! West Ham 1-1 Birmingham Ridgewell heads in from a corner, nipping in front of Reid to nod home nicely. He celebrates wildly with the Bues fans behind the goal and you could see that coming from a mile off. Moments earlier Sears had cleared Jerome header of the line and this has been a cracking half so far, albeit entirely one-sided. Can West Ham join in?
59 mins Er. Blimey. where did that come from. Obinna has been sent off. He cracked Larsson amidships as they both jumped for a throw-in and it was a straight red. The ref was standing right by him. That was a moment of idiocy and West Ham have are chucking this away. They were in total control. Now they're in total disarray.
61 mins Piquionne will be on his own up front from now on, with Sears on the left and Spector on the right. Birmingham are still playing like a very slow Barcelona in midfield but now it looks menacing and calculated rather than sluggish. A complete change in this game and suddenly Avram Grant looks a little frazzled. On other subjects Justin Kavangh writes: "Kenny Dalglish injecting botox? I think he's about as likely to do that as take elocution lessons". Maybe he could do both and transform himself into a 57-year-old Glaswegian Liz Hurley.
64 mins West Ham try to build something but the ball is played too quickly by Parker towards their one man attack and it comes to nothing. Now Birmingham have another attacking free kick and they've had too many of these. They are very dangerous from set pieces. This time Ridgewell runs offside and gets a free header in the process. Lovely dead rubber save from Green as the whistle went. West Ham look like a team cobbled together out of rubber bands and balsa wood right now.
67 mins Birmingham look really slick in midfield now. Gardner and Ferguson are totally bossing things. A lovely pass from Ferguson finds Carr running inside Sears but he's a little too clumsy to make anything of it. And David Adelman is holding up his hands: "The curse of the amateur pundit strikes again. Big Eck had little or nothing to do with the turn around, no it was pointing out that West Ham would be on a good run of form if they could hold on. Well done Obinna and co. you're continuing my Di Maggio like streak of being wrong." Carlton Cole is warming up. So that's all right then.
70 mins So much space in midfield now as Ferguson seems to be just standing there and deciding which pass to pick out. Parker, to me, looks like a tired player at the moment, but West Ham aren't exactly going to rest him. Tom Shaw groans: "I thought they were supposed to change shirts at the end of the game, not at half time." It has been a total turnaround, albeit you could totally see it coming.
73 mins West Ham look shattered right now. They have no shape or energy and Birmingham have ages on the ball. If Birmingham don't score again I'll be amazed. Ferguson is nudged over in the box by Upson as he tried to lumber back after him. Might have been a penalty although the contact was slight. Hines and Cole come on for Sears and Piquionne. They'd better be feeling up for it.
76 mins Murphy puts in a nice cross from the left and Tomkins heads over under lots of pressure from Jerome. Murphy then heads millimeters wide from Larsson ball back in. Big Eck is now distraught for different reasons. And Ulto Ryan writes: "I'd like to see some Zonal Marking stats on that kick in the gentleman's area or maybe it's one for OptaCojones???" Grisly viewing that. It was a kind of sneaky backheel gentleman's area swipe.
78 mins GOAL! West Ham 2-1 Birmingham Oh dear Ben Foster, but joy for Cole as he scores with what might be his first touch. Lovely run down the right by Spector, who crosses for Cole to sidefoot a scuffed, dribbling effort at goal that Foster allows to trickle under his pathetic attempt at a save and into the net. What an incredible stroke of luck for West Ham, but a nice break and now they're right back in it. Incredible scenes.
81 mins Yet again Cole scores with a mishit, but blimey that was an error of Rob Green World Cup proportions from frango Foster. He just seemed to be fall the wrong way, completely unable to adjust his feet in time. Ben Fitzpatrick writes: "He may have bottled it at Blackburn but Barry Ferguson has become Small Heaths very own Xavi - never gives it away and everything good goes through him. He should have been one of the greatest British players of the last 10 years." Maybe not the last bit. But he has been very good tonight.
84 mins Birmingham look rattled now. Can they gather for one last push. Now it's their turn to feel they've chucked away an advantage here. Ten men. They''re losing to ten men in a cup semi. Jonny Mac writes: "I bet Rob Green is grinning like a Cheshire cat." Poor old foster. He just always looks like something like that is around the corner, even when he's pulling off amazing saves. All these young fashionable English goalies do.
86 mins Birmingham have gone to plan C, which is basically an extreme version of plans A and B. Zigic is on for Larsson. Heads up. Zigic looks like an example of inadequately rendered perspective by a primitive cave painter.
88 mins Lots of running about now but no real clear chances as both teams seem to be trying to work out exactly what's going on and what they should be doing. They're both settling for pumping long passes forward towards their assorted big men. Cole wins a free kick by the corner flag. Expert wrestling. It comes to nothing.
90 mins Good chance for Zigic. Ferguson puts in a decent flighted cross and he heads just wide, getting in front of Tomkins a bit too easily. Kovac is on for Noble, who scored the first goal about five hours ago when the world was still young.
90+3 mins FULL TIME West Ham 2-1 Birmingham A last chance for Birmingham as a final long diagonal pass is lumped into the box but Green gratefully clutches Jerome's cross. And that is that. An unusual game with both teams basically having a half all to themselves, decided in the end by a terrible mistake from Foster. Avram Grant carries on winning games and West Ham have the lead in this tie. A precarious one, but still a lead.