Match report from tonight's home defeat in the encounter versus Tottenham Hotspur
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The Harry Redknapp revival continued at Upton Park as Tottenham leapfrogged West Ham into 15th place with a thoroughly-deserved 2-0 victory.
Returning to Upton Park where he remains unbeaten as a visiting manager, former West Ham winger and boss Harry Redknapp saw Ledley King mark his 250th start for the club with a 68th minute opener, before substitute Jamie O'Hara's screamer sealed the win in the closing moments.
Coming into this game with eight victories, a draw and just two defeats since arriving at White Hart Lane 11 games ago, north London's very own Harry Houdini made three changes from the side that had beaten Watford in the Carling Cup quarter-finals, as David Bentley, Luka Modric and King each returned in place of Fraizer Campbell plus substitutes Darren Bent and O'Hara.
Having secured a hat-trick of clean sheets with a gritty, goalless draw at Liverpool last Monday, Gianfranco Zola's Hammers were predictably unchanged against a Tottenham side that would have taken a first-minute lead had the wasteful Modric fired his ten-yarder anywhere other than into Robert Green's gloves.
With both sides failing miserably to play at high-tempo, the mistakes were there for all to see as over-hit passes and mis-controlled balls littered the cold, damp East End night.
Craig Bellamy hastily screwed an ambitious, angled shot across goal, before Bentley meekly headed to Green and when the ball did finally find the net midway through the first-half, referee Chris Foy ruled that Lucas Neill had used illegal means to force a Jermaine Jenas own goal from a home corner.
As the break approached, however, Spurs came closest to breaking the deadlock by more legitimate methods, when Bentley's scorching 15-yard shot was fantastically fisted away at full-stretch by Green and then Aaron Lennon sent a low cross towards the far post, only for the stretching Roman Pavlyuchenko to prod the ball onto the base of the keeper's right-hand upright.
It was West Ham's turn to threaten within seconds of the restart, but when Neill drilled the ball into the danger zone, the sliding Julien Faubert failed to get any contact to the frustration of the claret and blue fans amongst the 34,277 crowd.
As the hour-mark approached, Darren Bent replaced Pavlyuchenko, while Mark Noble came on for the forlorn Faubert, who looks a pale shadow of the man who once was the first player to replace Zinedine Zidane in the French national side.
The lively-looking Bent quickly flicked wide after a lightning raid by Jenas and Lennon shredded the home defence and as the Tottenham threat increased, Didier Zokora broke from halfway before forcing Green into a full-length save.
A Spurs goal was not far away and sure enough, on 68 minutes, Lennon invited King to get in front of James Collins and meet his hanging right-wing cross with a downward header that bounced up off the rain-soaked turf and under Green's left-hand angle.
In reply, Carlton Cole finally forced Heurelho Gomes into his first meaningful save of the evening and after Benoit Assou-Ekotto survived an appeal for handball, substitute David Di Michele - on for Hayden Mullins - soon saw his close-range effort blocked.
Desperate to get something from the game, Zola introduced a fourth striker in the shape of debutant Diego Tristan, but the Spaniard made no impact against a Tottenham side that had Gomes to thank for a dynamic double save.
Spurs made sure of the points when a substitute of their very own, O'Hara, collected Vedran Corluka's square pass and beat the diving Green with a simply unstoppable 20-yarder. |
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