Premier League - Rodallega downs Hammers

Eurosport - Sat, 12 Sep 22:25:00 2009

Hugo Rodallega fired home a poacher's goal to hand Wigan a 1-0 Premier League win at home to West Ham.

Hugo Rodallega, FOOTBALL - 0

The striker found the net from close range in the second half to hand the Latics only their second win of the campaign.

The Hammers dominated possession for swathes of the encounter and had two penalty appeals turned down in the first half.

But Gianfranco Zola's men missed a succession of good chances and were made to pay 10 minutes after the break when Rodallega converted a cross from the right to ensure they claimed all three points.

The hosts certainly had the better of the first half possession but it was West Ham who looked the more likely to break the deadlock.

The Hammers twice had penalty appeals turned down in the opening 45 minutes with referee Alan Wiley waving play-on when Zavon Hines was felled by Maynor Figueroa after only seven minutes and when Carlton Cole tumbled under the challenge of Titus Bramble 10 minutes before the break.

Cole, who now has eight months left to impress England boss Fabio Capello before the World Cup, was guilty of passing up the first real chance of the game after 10 minutes when he failed to make good contact with a cross from the right with only Chris Kirkland to beat.

Hines was chosen to partner Cole in attack, with new signing Alessandro Diamanti left on the bench, and the Jamaican should have found the net on 31 minutes when he cut in from the left-hand side before failing to beat Kirkland with a curling effort.

Rodallega served notice of his intent when he had a deflected shot excellently tipped over by England's latest first choice keeper Rob Green five minutes before the break, but the striker didn't have to wait long to get on the scoresheet after the restart.

A cross from the right was met by Jason Koumas, whose close-range effort was parried by Green, but it fell at the feet of Rodallega who gobbled up the rebound.

The Hammers could have struck straight back a minute later, but James Tomkins headed a corner narrowly wide and Scott Parker saw his effort from 12 yards excellently tipped over by Kirkland.

Zola introduced Diamanti midway through the second half for his debut, and the move almost paid immediate dividends.

The striker fired a free-kick inches wide from 25 yards before hitting the post with a curling effort with 10 minutes remaining.

Jason Scotland came even closer to adding a second when he rounded Green in stoppage time only for Tomkins to clear the danger.

Toby Davis / Eurosport

Comment 1 - 12 of 12

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  1. This is a game we should have at least got a point­ from, but its still early days as far as the season­ goes. We are going to have major problems with Cole­ leading the line, dont get me wrong I like Carlton,­ gives 100 percent and holds the ball up well, but he is­ not going to score the goals we need to have a good­ season. Diamanti looked a class act and hopefully­ Behrami will be back soon

    From SE10Hammer, on Mon 14 Sep 6:06PM

  2. The result did not surprise me / same old West Ham
    Cole­ playing for England !!
    He is lucky to be in the first­ team / wise up
    Will he score 10 goals this season / I­ doubt it ??

    From royhill61, on Mon 14 Sep 3:32PM

  3. Come on zola get these boys back to winning ways,­ before we slip to far down the table.

    From john.dyer8dyer, on Sun 13 Sep 11:11AM

  4. hello from Oz,as a westham fan l sat watch wigan V­ westham on tv and can see that we are going to stuggle­ this season,westham keeper recieves the ball more from­ our own players than the other team.coles great­ backpass 2 weeks ago and the way he is up front­ ,we'll never score.the money thats being paid to­ these players is a joke and so are westham this­ season.relegation this season is now possible.they all­ need a good kick up the @#$% and dropped to the second­ team,BRING ON THE YOUNGER PLAYERS,,,wake up­ westham,zola,clarke because if we're relegated­ we're­ history$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

    From Joy C, on Sun 13 Sep 2:56AM

  5. don`t know what game they was watching, west ham did­ not dominate any part of the game wigan passed the ball­ around like it was a training session, bit failed in­ the final 3rd of the pitch, but the win went to the­ better team on the day, west ham managed a few chances­ but where very poor

    From wafc4life, on Sat 12 Sep 9:57PM

  6. Zola is making too many wrong choices. Diamante scored­ 2 in reserve game, why didnt he get a start instead of­ 30 mins at end? He also needs to spend some more­ 'quality time' with Carlton Cole to get him­ scoring again, like last Xmas when he had him spending­ the day shooting at goal. 'Time to stop being the­ nice guy and get some results out of these highly paid­ players. If Cole wants to be in first team HE MUST­ SCORE GOALS, otherwise put HIM in reserves! He's­ slipping back into his non-delivering ways. This guy­ Franco better deliver the goods and not be another time­ server.

    From Keith, on Sat 12 Sep 9:48PM
  7. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Adebayor proved he was a good player today against­ Arsenal. And also inadvertently proved that the reason­ he was @#$% at Arsenal is because he didn’t try. Sure,­ it was damned if you, damned if you don’t for Adebayor.­ But that is because the verdict has been out already on­ him; we were not waiting for judgment. There is now the­ matter of sentencing, and his sentence will be a place­ in Arsenal fans’ hearts somewhere between Roy Keane and­ the entire Spurs collective. He asked for it, he­ thrives on it, and Arsenal fans wouldn’t dream of­ taking it away from him.

    From Ty Weezy, on Sat 12 Sep 9:22PM

  8. #5: When will you ever understand thatnthese boards are­ for football fans, regardless of their team, and as­ such your intrusion into our territory is unwelcome.­ Don't be sorry. Don't say things that era off­ topic. And finally, don't share your spam with us.­ Just GET LOST!! If the moderators would do their jobs­ pewrhaps we could be rid of you completely.

    From Paperboy, on Sat 12 Sep 8:45PM

  9. west ham!!!! right up

    From huajielee, on Fri 11 Sep 7:20AM

  10. Hope Cole is OK to play (he wasnt in England line up,­ dont know why, he should have started , how long will­ Capello hang on to the lumbering Heskey?). Diamante­ has chance to prove he's not another Serie A dud­ (scored 2 in reserve game this week)

    From Keith, on Thu 10 Sep 5:24PM

  11. I have no idea what the stat about West Ham only­ winning 3 of their last 10 league matches has to do­ with anything. Unless I missed something there has been­ only 3 matches played so far this season. The last 7­ matches from last season mean absolutely nothing. There­ are no points carried forward. Come on you Irons! We­ need all 3 points this weekend.

    From tomas.americano, on Thu 10 Sep 4:26PM

  12. Am I missing something ? What is the DW stadium - I­ thought it was the JJB..... The HAMMERS have to win­ this one (surely). Not the most exciting fixture in the­ season but its 3 points we need to take us to another­ mid table finish again.

    From ALISON, on Wed 9 Sep 7:09AM
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