Ronald Zubar celebrates as the West Ham defence is penetrated again

Wolves made a huge leap towards Premier League safety with a crushing victory over fellow strugglers West Ham.

The visitors went close when Kevin Foley hit the bar and took the lead when a scuffed James Tomkins pass-back fell to Kevin Doyle who fired home.David Jones set up Ronald Zubar to fire in and then passed to Matthew Jarvis who shot low past keeper Rob Green.Scott Parker hit a post for West Ham in the first-half, leaving Guillermo Franco to chip in a late consolation.Despite a spirited fightback in the closing stages for the Hammers, it was overall a display lacking ideas and confidence and will be a big worry for boss Gianfranco Zola as he prepares for the final seven games currently three points away from the drop zone.After a weekend dominated by talk of an invigorated title race, Monday night saw the teams at the other end of the Premier League taking centre stage.West Ham, in 17th spot, were facing the team one place above them with Hammers boss Gianfranco Zola calling the clash “a massive six pointer” as he desperately sought to avoid a fifth successive league defeat.While Mick McCarthy’s pre-match motivational speech would have no doubt pointed towards their opponents recalling their star players after a rested few days with Zola having ‘targeted’ Wolves.The Italian boss did indeed bring back fit-again skipper Scott Parker, along with two strikers who did not start in the 2-0 loss at Arsenal, Carlton Cole and Benni McCarthy, but it was the visitors who ripped open a very nervous defence inside seven minutes.It was a chance initiated by a long punt from keeper Marcus Hahnemann with the two Kevins taking over, as lone striker Doyle headed on to Foley who outsprinted Matthew Upson before blasting against the bar.West Ham’s players gradually settled though and began to crate half-chances thanks to the battling efforts of defender Julien Faubert on the right and Parker pulling the strings in the middle.However, disaster soon struck on the half-hour for the hosts when James Tomkins scuffed his pass-back to keeper Rob Green as Doyle pounced to burst through and squeeze his shot inside the post for his seventh of the season.The managerial faces told the story as Zola stood motionless on the sidelines with arms folded and a huge frown as McCarthy punched the air with arms aloft.The mood quickly changed for the Wolves boss as his side were denied a big penalty shout when Radoslav Kovac’s clumsy tackle hacked down David Jones, but referee Phil Dowd was unimpressed.With one minute left until the interval the claret and blue finally gave their fans something to cheer about with their skipper going agonisingly close to the equaliser.Parker picked up the ball 40 yards out and danced his way into the box before firing his shot against the right post. The ball bounced back into Parker’s path and again he was deprived as Hahnemann reacted brilliantly to scoop the ball off the line.Both Tomkins and Kovac paid a heavy price for a slopping opening 45 minutes by being replaced by Junior Stanislas and Jonathan Spector.Despite the occasional sparks from Cole on the edge of the box, West Ham continued to disappoint as an attacking force, but on the hour their defence simply crumbled.It was two goals conceded inside three minutes and both were created by the irrepressible Jones.The midfielder passed wide to Zubar on the right side and the defender still had much work to do with a tight angle, but he showed no hesitation in blasting the ball past Green for his first Premier League goal.The dissatisfaction at Upton Park soon turned to anger as fans headed for the exit after watching Jarvis turn the defence inside out after picking up a fine Jones through-ball and firing low into the net for the third.The hosts at least showed some late battling qualities with substitute Franco shooting straight at Hahnemann, while Alessandro Diamanti went close with an effort from 25 yards.On the day West Ham’s new co-owners, David Gold and David Sullivan, stepped up their bid to occupy the Olympic Stadium after the 2012 Games, the pair will be desperately hoping their club will still be in the top-flight to enjoy it.

( BBC Sport )

Leoni fuori gabbia

Book review: Rolling With The 6.57 Crew

March 22, 2010 by The Hovian

 

Pompey Playing Up

Rolling With The 6.57 Crew – By Cass Pennant & Rob Silvester

First Published : 2004

ISBN 1 84454 072 3

Score out of 5 :

I’ve decided to start reviewing footy related books on the blog, just to add something different to the general themes of following the Albion and casual clothing. The reviews won’t necessarily be about the latest books, just ones I have read recently and that are loosely related to all things football.I also have a guilty pleasure to admit to – hooligan memoirs. I’ve never been in trouble at a game in my life, or so much as growled at opposing fans, but while I don’t condone or glorify hooliganism, it is something inextricably linked to the very fabric of the game, like it or not. I’m also fascinated with the motives, the people involved, and the actual events from these often vicious times. But not all the football related books I read are about young men kicking the shit out each other, biogs and polemics about the state of the modern game float my boat too. Just don’t expect to see Nick Hornby being lionized on this site.First up is a book co-written by the Tom Clancy of “Hoolie Lit” – Mr Cass Pennant. Cass was a famous member of the infamous ICF of West Ham, and he loves to tell a tale does Cass. The book, though full of spelling and grammatical errors, is a rollicking ride in the wake of the nutty skates of Portsmouth FC from the early skinhead days of 68-69, through the casual heyday of the early eighties, and the slow decline of large-scale bedlam at football in the nineties and noughties. I always read these kinds of books with a large handful of salt, and this one especially, as the skates run everyone all over the place it seems. Co-author Rob Silvester was a hardcore member of the “6.57″, a crew named after the time of the early Saturday morning train leaving Portsmouth for London, where these boys usually launched themselves on each naughty awayday up and down the country.It’s a good read nonetheless, and describes well some of the undoubtedly tough characters produced by the very insular and school-of-hard-knocks city that is Portsmouth, very entertaining.

( The Hovian )