TAKING THE CHERRIES
West Ham 2 AFC Bournemouth 0
Oh I do like the opportunity of climbing five places in the PL table by merely recording a single win. And that is the fate awaiting the Hammers if they can overcome Gary O’Neil’s plucky south coast side, a team that Harry Redknapp often watches on his spare Saturdays.
Gary O’Neil is no stranger to West Ham supporters, making 48 league appearances for the club between 2011 and 2013, and scoring three goals. Wearing the number 32 shirt, O’Neil was one of the starting XI for the 2-1 Football League Championship play off final win over Blackpool.
Tonight he is in temporary charge of AFC Bournemouth. What is immediately obvious about this Bournemouth side is that to get into its starting XI you need to be six foot four and slender as a beanpole.
On their travels, AFC Bournemouth have managed a creditable 1-1 draw at Newcastle as well as a 9-0 drubbing at Anfield that saw Scott Parker, the architect of their last season promotion, summarily dismissed. This is the man who gets teams into the top flight but is rarely allowed to enjoy their Premier League status for very long.
O’Neil is in charge while Bournemouth look for a successor to Parker. They haven’t had too much luck in that department so far. The job may still go to O’Neil if he avoids the calamitous reverse suffered by his predecessor.
The first fifteen minutes play suggest the calamitous reverse is not happening this evening. Zouma is on the ball and marshalling things exquisitely in defence. Cresswell creates an early chance for Souček but the Czech can’t get up high enough to get the header right and he heads over. Neto makes a great save from Cresswell’s volley shortly afterwards, and then from Souček after Scamacca pulls the ball across in front of the last defender.
Flynn Downes has started again this evening for the third time in a row and is looking very comfortable in that central midfield position. Solanka and Neto are injured in close succession as Hammers begin to take hold of the game.
However, when it comes, deep into first half injury time, Hammers’ opener is something of a lame affair, Zouma rising to an goalbound cross following an inswinging Jarrod Bowen corner. He gets the back of his head to the ball after Bournemouth keeper Neto shows no real desire to clear it. Unfortunately, Kehrer’s contact in the build up looks rather like a handball, and the crowd hold their breath as VAR is consulted. They needn’t have worried. It’s a goal.
Despite further complaints, the ragged Bournemouth defence trudge back to the halfway line, crestfallen and still less than happy with the referee’s decision.
As the relatively incident-free second half draws to a close, Coufal hits a powerful cross into the Bournemouth area, which strikes Zemura on the arm, is immediately adjudged to have been an ‘unnatural’ contact, and West Ham find they have a penalty. Benrahma is the nearest thing Hammers have onfield in terms of a penalty taker, and so he steps up and dispatches the spot kick. Hoorah. West Ham are finally, at least until next Saturday, registering a place in the top half of the Premier League table.
1 Lucasz Fabianski, 2 Ben Johnson, 3 Aaron Cresswell, 4 Kurt Zouma, 24 Thilo Kehrer, 12 Flynn Downes, 22 Saïd Benrahma, 28 Tomas Souček, 41 Declan Rice (captain), 20 Jarrod Bowen, 7 Gianluca Scamacca
Substitutes: 9 Michail Antonio, 8 Pablo Fornals, 5 Vladimir Coufal
Goalscorers: Kurt Zouma, Saïd Benrahma (penalty)
Goalscorers: Kurt Zouma, Saïd Benrahma (penalty)
