West Ham United F.C. 2-2 WBA

live text replay


with such an unbelievably good start to the season - and having been the form team in the league through the month of september - baggies supporters are going to have to readjust their expectations somewhat. in the PREMIER LEAGUE - and provided you are not chelsea, arsenal or manchester united - a draw away from home is never a bad result.

this was the first time this year that there was no TV broadcast at all of a match. of course, i listened to the live audio commentary on ALBION RADIO and saw the highlights through ALBION PLAYER on the club website.

i haven't watched the hammers much these last few years, but i was really impressed, as there is no doubt that scott parker is the best english-born defensive midfielder in the league. his exclusion from the england team is another glaring example of how poorly run the selection process of the national side is.

not unlike countless other teams who have gone before them in PREMIER LEAGUE competition, west ham may already be steeling themselves for a relegaton battle; however, they play pretty good football and probably deserve more than they are getting at the moment. but who ever said football was fair?



as for the albion, they are desperately missing jonas olsson. as long as he is out of the team they will continue to struggle without his organization of the back-line and the ever present danger he poses as a target-man on set-pieces.

there was a tentative feeling about how the baggies attacked this game, and graham dorrans, who finally got a place in the starting eleven, still looks only half the player he did last year. the positive side of this is that it doesn't appear to have shaken the young scottish international and he already seems to possess the maturity to ride out a spell of poor form. he still wants the ball and tries to get involved in the game and we will no doubt see some of his best stuff before the season is out.

this match produced some pretty terrific football from the two respective midfields and saw some exciting spells of possession with each side producing a good passing game with neither really able to find anything in the final third.

west ham created the first really good chance of the match when carlton cole put a free-header resulting from a corner-kick just over scott carson's cross-bar.

peter odemwingie marked his return to the starting line-up by quite surprisingly and boldly stepping forward to take a penalty after steven reid had been dragged down in the hammer's box. the nigerian striker delivered a calm, text-book spot-kick placed perfectly and accurately in the lower left-hand corner of the net.

just as the baggies looked like they had taken control of the game, had the better of the possession and looked the more likely of the two to score before the break, the hammers equalized before half-time on what has to be one of the goals of the season. taking advantage of paul scharner's careless effort in trying to football his way out of trouble in a dangerous area, scott parker smacked in an absolutely unstoppable effort from 30 yards out into the top right hand corner of scott carson's goal.



it was really something made out of nothing and brought the otherwise dour and largely silent upton park crowd to life, as both teams created good chances for themselves in a flurry of end to end action during the last two minutes of the first-half.

the hammers came back for the second-half to a greatly improved atmosphere and an added confidence. not surprisingly they took the lead on a frederic piquionne penalty awarded after gabriel tamas bundled kieron dyer to the ground in the baggies' penalty area.

the albion equalized through pablo ibanez, and a superb delivery from chris brunt. with west ham unable to clear their lines following a baggies' corner-kick, brunt sent a brilliant ball back across goal and found the head of ibanez to bring the score-line level at 2-2.

while this was a good performance by the baggies away from home, i still can't help but feel - much like i did with last year's team - that we haven't seen them live up to their potential and play the football of which i believe they are capable, and that this was a match they would have won had jonas olsson been fit.

in light of this, the result against the hammers will seem significantly more important if west brom can manage an away win at wigan on saturday.