Valon Behrami and Carlton Cole lead way as West Ham overrun Hull City
Posted Sunday, February 21, 2010 by theguardian.com
West Ham United's Jonathan Spector, left, and Hull City's Craig Fagan battle for a high ball at Upton Park.
For West Ham, the ghost of relegation might finally be starting to fade. This performance was as stuttering and unconvincing as a Tiger Woods apology but, against another of the sides battling for survival, the victory it brought will taste sweet all the same. For Hull, however, there can be no consolation. The visitors started dismally and got progressively worse; they were poor with 11 men, terrible with 10 and hopeless with nine.
The Hammers will scarcely have a better opportunity to impress. Up by a goal or more for almost the entire game, and by a man or more for nearly half of it, they still failed to relax. Carlton Cole's goal, their second, came from what was by some distance the best move of the match, even if it consisted of just a single pass – Julien Faubert's superbly weighted through-ball – and a smart, clipped finish. People will talk too of a 70th-minute shot from inside his own half by Alessandro Diamanti that drew a save from Boaz Myhill, though it seemed to be dropping wide of goal.
If the home side were little more than adequate, their opponents were considerably less. Thirteen league games now without a win, Hull must have been short of confidence even before the ghastly early opening goal. Tom Cairney lost possession to Valon Behrami, who passed to Guillermo Franco. The Mexican, making his first appearance of 2010, tried to control the ball and failed so badly that it rolled back into the path of Behrami, who scored with ease from 15 yards.
"What we did in the first few minutes was inexplicable and inexcusable as well," said Phil Brown. "Myhill rolls the ball to Dawson, who gives it to a young pup in midfield and the ball ends up in the back of the net. If I was telling you that's the way I wanted them to play, it would be my fault. But it certainly wasn't the way I wanted them to play. I've said the words 'self-inflicted' so many times already this season. You work so hard all week on your game plan, then you're 1-0 down in two-and-a-half minutes and you've got a mountain to climb."
Behrami, having scored his first goal of the season, could have had a hat-trick by half-time only for Myhill to deny him twice. At the other end, Robert Green parried George Boateng's powerful shot in the 45th minute. "We steadied the ship, to a certain extent," said Brown. "Then more self-inflicted damage."
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