OPPO: West Ham
VENUE: The Boleyn Ground
RESULT: Hammers 3, Sunderland 2
TEAM: . Poom, Wright, Bjorklund, McCartney, Arca, McAteer (Kyle 61), Whitley, Thirlwell, Oster, Stewart, Smith (Butler 78).
SUBS NOT USED: : Ingham, Babb, Quinn
BOOKED: Oster – unsporting behaviour.
BACK IN BLACK😛 Joslin (Notts)
ATTENDANCE: 30,329
MCCARTHY’S COMMENTS
I didn’t think that we were home and dry at half time. Far from it. Even though we’d played as well as we had in the first half I didn’t think we were home and dry.
West Ham will have gone away and been euphoric yet they were battered for 45 minutes. We’ll go away and feel sad and morose and sick and it’ll be sackcloth and ashes for a while.
We played well for much of the day and defended – we were pushed back. They had a big fella who came on and we didn’t have anybody who could deal with him.
Once they’d pulled the first one back we were under pressure and struggled to deal with it.
You’ll go away with your headlines – McCarthy bemoans his missed chances or bad defending – but I’m not. With a bit more experience and calm and had we retained possession a bit better we could have won.
It was good to see Jason back today to score and perhaps when we get Thornton, Piper and Breeny back we’ll get back on the winning road. The lads are great and they give me everything.
We can’t waffle anymore – we’ve got us a*se kicked 3-2!
MCATEER’S COMMENTS
“I thought we started well in the second half and Alan Pardew did have to change it. He threw the big man up front and they threw the kitchen sink at us.
We were a little inexperienced at the back and we didn’t deal with the problem sufficiently.
If you have a big man on the bench you have the option to go route one and that’s where they’ve got their joy. Deane’s done a job today.
There’s not a lot of anger in the dressing room – more like disappointment. A few of the players are a bit quiet at the moment but we have to take this as a lesson and put things right next week.
The Black Cats looked to be cruising to their first win in six games until Defoe took over in the second half.
Sunderland were asleep at the start and Kevin Horlock should have given the Hammers the lead before a minute was on the clock.
The Hammers had a penalty appeal turned down in the 10th minute when Hayden Mullins went flying under a challenge from Julio Arca, but the referee was right to wave play on.
It was a good game to watch in the early stages, with both sides happy to attack whenever possible.
Sunderland had to withstand periods of Hammers pressure but they did so well – and looked dangerous as a attacking force.
Sunderland surged forward and Jeff Whitley was desperately unlucky not to score his first goal when he smacked a shot off the underside of the bar.
(After West Ham’s first goal) The floodgates then opened and Sunderland were forced into some desperate defending. Kyle had a chance within minutes of coming on but his volley was blocked and then Smith miscontrolled when he was clean through.
Defoe was the obvious dangerman and he caused Joachim Bjorklund and George McCartney all sorts of problems
Jason McAteer gave the Black Cats the best possible start, putting his side ahead in only the third minute of the game after a good piece of skill from Marcus Stewart.
Stewart was the provider again just before the half hour, this time Oster shooting home from six yards out.
Mick McCarthy’s men carved out a couple of great chances wasted by sloppy finishing.
In the 80th minute they paid the ultimate price when they conceded a third goal, Horlock’s free-kick from the right wing being missed by everyone in the area before being slotted home by Ian Pearce after a rebound from the post.
Clueless and disorganised for 45 minutes, West Ham still managed to turn things round yesterday.
In Sunderland’s first attack of the match, David James charged out of his area to challenge Tommy Smith, only for the Smith to leave the England goalkeeper floundering. With the net gaping, Smith’s pass found McAteer who shot home powerfully.
Another Sunderland counter-attack and a second goal for the Wearsiders. Once again James was the culprit when he failed to gather a close-range shot from Smith. Oster could not believe his luck as he stabbed home the loose ball.
With his first touch, Brian Deane, a second West Ham substitute, headed on a free-kick and Defoe finished it off from close range. Seven minutes later, the roof nearly came off Upton Park when Defoe slipped his marker and hit a sublime equaliser.
West Ham looked a different team going forward and it was a question of whether Sunderland could hold on. The answer was no.
West Ham were a shambolic rabble in the first half, allowing Jason McAteer and John Oster to give Sunderland a comfortable half-time cushion.
Tommy Smith broke clear down the left in the fourth minute, tempting David James out of the West Ham goal. England’s number one was so indecisive that he allowed Smith to sidestep a weak challenge and flash in a cross which evaded everyone but McAteer, who smashed home into an empty net.
Oster doubled Sunderland’s lead on the half-hour mark. Smith again was the creator, his shot squirming out of James’s hands in the rain and falling kindly for Oster to finish.
Jeff Whitley was given all the time in the world to crack a 25-yard shot off the crossbar.
Despite Defoe’s eye-catching speed and the excellence of Matthew Etherington on the left side of midfield, West Ham steadily lost control of the opening half and ended it two goals down.
Perhaps the sheeting rain betrayed the home defenders’ footing, but Marcus Stewart was allowed to close in for a shot which James blocked but could not hold.
Frustration boiled over when Oster appeared to tread on the grounded Marlon Harewood. Tomas Repka came barreling in and ended up being booked along with Oster.
Sunderland, according to their manager, Mick McCarthy, resorted to naïve defending.
Eleven minutes from time, as harassed Sunderland conceded the latest in a string of free- kicks, Kevin Horlock bent one on to a post and the rebound fell kindly for Pearce to trundle over the line.
Thanks to ‘KUMB’ fanzine for the details of McCarthy’s comments at the Press Conference.