Wolves 1-2 West Ham
A classic game of two halves saw the Irons take the points after a pretty dull game which actually only really got going in the last 15 minutes
As per usual, the Hammers sat back and absorbed pressure in order to wait for the counter attack. It nearly came off when Bowen did brilliantly well to nick the ball from the feet of Semedo, who then flew into the area, cutting the ball back for the waiting Soucek, but he could not quite sort his feet out in time from close range as Wolves clear.
On the half hour Emerson Palmieri was penalised for a tackle which once again the Gods of VAR were not on our side and the resultant penalty was drilled in off the post by Pablo Sarabia.
We kept giving the ball away and it finally cost us as Mavropanos was caught out of position, Emerson paused and let Ait-Nouri in, then he slid in and fouled the Algerian
Wolves’ five-man midfield controlled most of the first half, as the Hammers could not get forward down their flanks, as we so often do.
In an attempt to shift momentum, Antonio came on for Soucek and Ben Johnson came on for Coufal as half time replacements. Which meant Antonio down the middle, Kudus on the left and Paqueta as the No10, and JWP dropped deeper alongside Alvarez.
Bowen blow
As if the afternoon could get any worse, Jarrod Bowen was injured and had to come off to be replaced by Aaron Cresswell.
Then Emerson thought he made amends after scoring a header from a cross from Kudus, but it was chalked off for an alleged foul, a really soft challenge. Once again VAR did not come to our rescue.
But then we started to play as we know we can. After dominating for a good ten minutes, we finally had some luck go our way when Emmerson’s cross hit Kilman’s arm and Paqueta duly dispatched the penalty.
With West Ham sniffing victory, Antonio proved to be a real handful as he continued to torment the home defence.
Then joy of joys…Cresswell forces a corner down the West Ham left. Ward-Prowse steps up and curls an inswinger over Sa and it nestles inside the far post to give West Ham the lead!
JWP scores direct from a corner
Cue pandemonium from the travelling supporters !!!
We then had a slightly nervous 10 minutes of injury time to endure but being West Ham we managed to concede in the last minute and for once VAR smiled on us and it was chalked off. Max Kilman’s header was ruled out after Fabianski had been ruled to have had his view obstructed.
A welcome three points for the Irons !