Premier League - West Ham pip Wigan at JJB

Eurosport - Wed, 04 Mar 22:09:00 2009

West Ham won a heated encounter 1-0 over Wigan at the JJB Stadium as both sides were reduced to 10 men.

FOOTBALL 2008-09 Premier League - Carlton Cole of West Ham celebrates - 0

Hammers striker Carlton Cole scored the only goal of the game with 11 minutes remaining in the first half, finishing off a lovely one-touch move when he bent the ball inside Chris Kirkland's far post.

However the England international was shown a second yellow card before the break after leaping to meet an aerial ball with his feet as Emmerson Boyce arrived to head, while Lee Cattermole was also sent off in the second half for a disgraceful two-legged challenge on Scott Parker.

Wigan threw everything at West Ham to no avail; the writing was on the wall for the Latics when Mario Melchiot's shot was deflected away from goal by the arm of Matthew Upson and referee Stuart Attwell ruled that it was accidental.

The match was already fairly scrappy before the Cole red card fanned the flames of aggression. The striker had been booked for a late tackle on Michael Brown and Mark Noble also cautioned for throwing out a leg to fell a twinkle-toed move by Cattermole.

Visiting goalkeeper Robert Green tipped over a Amr Zaki free-kick in the early stages before saving then clawing away a low powerful set-piece from Zaki's Egypt team-mate Mido.

The goal was superb: Parker found the feet of David Di Michele, who passed off to Noble and spun away from his marker to receive a return ball; he gave it to Cole, who stuck it away with precision.

There was a lack of further goalmouth action until Mido struck the post with a header from an Antonio Valencia cross five minutes before half-time.

After the break to that there had been a coming together of the two teams over Cole's dismissal, resulting in a yellow card for Brown; several more cards would be issued by the young official before the end of proceedings.

In the moments before Cattermole was sent for an early bath, Maynor Figueroa was unfortunate to see a shot crash into the side-netting having played a one-two and sprung the offside trap.

Parker was hurt by Cattermole - who now has two red and nine yellow cards to his name this season - but able to continue.

West Ham had played the better football in the middle third and looked comfortable at 1-0 up with 10 men apiece. They could have made it two when Di Michele reached the by-line and squared to the near post where Noble was arriving, but his shot was across goal.

There was bad news for Gianfranco Zola when Jack Collison collapsed after controlling a pass and had to be stretchered off.

Wigan piled forward, Valencia especially looking dangerous while substitute Hugo Rodallega had an overhead kick fly a few yards wide.

However they could not find a clinical final touch in the box with Zaki having been replaced, and Noble could have sealed the points when sub Savio Nsereko played him in with a reverse pass; Kirkland was out quickly to block.

West Ham stay seventh in the table while Wigan drop to ninth.

Jonathan Symcox / Eurosport

Comment 1 - 16 of 16

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  1. We aren't whinging about the sending off of­ Cattermole (he was stupid) and we have sympathy with­ Cole as he didnt deserve to be sent off. What any­ reasonable football fan would be disturbed about is how­ Neil and Parker got through the game despite both of­ them going in studs first on separate ocassions, Parker­ rolling around like Ronaldo before making a Lazarus­ like recovery and of course bouncing around in a­ demented fashion after the Cole sending off.­ Dissent/aggressive behaviour are obviously okay, so my­ 12 year old son will probably be applying those­ "rules" on Sunday morning. Amd to cap it­ off, I have now just read a piece in the Evening­ Standard from Matthew Upson claiming they were upset­ with some of the Wigan challenges. Cattermoles apart, I­ would like him to name one such challenge. I watched­ the game and there was nothing of the sort. Lets have­ some honesty.

    From guzs, on Thu 5 Mar 11:35PM

  2. At the end of the day if a player goes into a tackle­ with both feet off the ground then the player risks­ being sent off no matter what. Cattermole got sent off­ for the same type of rash tackle so all in all the game­ was a fair game.
    So everybody stop whinging about the­ sending off as West Ham did win the game anyway.

    From anthony m, on Thu 5 Mar 7:46PM

  3. Lofty the Lion - I'm not whingeing mate, Neill­ didnt deserve to be sent off and he wasnt - happy days.­ the tape doesnt lie, if you watch it in slow motion, as­ Sky showed about 450 times this morning trying to prove­ something, you can clearly see Lucas Neill winning the­ ball. End of Story. It was a hard tackle i am not­ denying that, but football is about tackling. Yeah­ he's not the greatest defender in the world­ (he's not even the greatest defender in our back­ four) but what gets me is the bandwagon jumping about­ 'this player or that player should be sent off. As­ for kevin Davies, i dont know how that fat thug even­ got signed up to play professional football in the­ first place.
    How you can compare one dodgy tackle from­ Neill to the catalogue of shocking assaults tthat­ Davies has commuitted is a joke.

    From andylearningline, on Thu 5 Mar 4:44PM
  4. Comment hidden due to it's low rating. Show

    It was only a couple of weeks ago that West Ham were­ crying about a few hard but fair challenges from Kevin­ Davies. Neill's tackle was pure hate - what a­ two-faced bunch of whingers you lot are!

    From Lofty the Lion FC, on Thu 5 Mar 12:58PM

  5. andylearningline let me guess west ham fan? Lucas­ neill tackle yes he caught the top of the ball but his­ foot was raised. You cant catch someone above the­ ankle if it wasnt raised. So it is a straight red it­ could have easily broke cattermoles leg, and b4 u say­ yes i agree cattermoles tackle was discusting deserved­ to go.

    From 1982, on Thu 5 Mar 10:56AM

  6. Lucas Neill won the ball first. if you look at it in­ slow motion he most definitely contacts the ball before­ the ankle. he went for the ball and won it, end of­ story. No way should you be sent off for winning the­ ball in a 50/50 challenge. I dont think the ref got­ much right, but this was spot on.
    Carlton Cole was way­ unlucky as he wasnt looking at the player when he went­ to bring the ball down and there was no intention at­ all to make contact let alone injure anyone. As for­ Scott Parker, it is a long time since Hammers fans have­ seen such good acting. he definitely got the Wigan­ player sent off.
    All in all a bad night for refereeing,­ but Bruce should shut his gob about Neill, who made a­ perfectly good, if hefty challenge. A bit like Bruce­ used to in fact.

    From andylearningline, on Thu 5 Mar 10:32AM

  7. What's the news on Jack Collison

    From Ronsenglish, on Thu 5 Mar 9:21AM

  8. Watch this space premiership west ham are comming, Cole­ is a god the second comming

    From JOHN, on Thu 5 Mar 9:17AM
  9. Comment hidden due to it's low rating. Show

    Hey, I'm an open minded girl from US, I'm---­ interested in exotic things, photography, dating and---­ sports...I have my photos on --- S e ek rich Co m---­ ---, Do you love traveling and have-- some experience?-­ Just find me out.

    From Janet M, on Thu 5 Mar 9:04AM

  10. ridahjake i agree really also i think parker was lucky­ not 2 go 2 how can he book michael brown for agressive­ behavior and not parker with the way he reacted!

    From 1982, on Thu 5 Mar 8:29AM

  11. I watched the match between west ham and wigan for me­ the referee got most of the decisions right apart from­ the lucas neil one ( adefinate sending off ) .The age­ of reckless brutality in football should be over . the­ referee deserve more praise in my view. i hope he­ becomes the future of english refereeing..

    From ridahjake, on Thu 5 Mar 12:59AM

  12. we got points this time, but at wot cost to players.the­ inj list grows

    From reynolds676, on Wed 4 Mar 11:00PM

  13. Max

    Have you woken up yet and taken your finger off­ the keyboard. Hey, I know a guy who can fix your­ problem

    Mickeyhammer

    From mikeseddon49, on Wed 4 Mar 10:01PM
  14. Comment hidden due to it's low rating. Show

    many thank,s to blackburn hold everton back & also­ man city cause we ars the gooneeeeerrrrsss.

    From s.coleman972, on Wed 4 Mar 9:59PM

  15. West Ham got the points, thats what matters! Come on­ you Irons!!

    From Jon M, on Wed 4 Mar 9:57PM
  16. Comment hidden due to it's low rating. Show

    BOTH TEAMS ARE­ RUBBISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!

    From max.tyrrell, on Wed 4 Mar 7:54PM
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