Nice One Trev

In what was Trevor Brookings first match back in charge after his unbeaten spell during Glenn Roeders illness back we went to the old 4-3-3. With Neil Mellor, David Connolly and Jermain Defoe all up front the midfield were never going to be short of targets and also with Michael Carrick back in the midfield it was looking promising.
West Ham were running Bradford ragged and after heavy pressure the breakthrough came. Jermain Defoe picking the ball up on the left worked his way in weaving in and out leaving Bradford defenders ball watching before banging the ball into the bottom right hand corner.

Although just this one goal separated the teams for the remainder of the match Brooking could hardly have asked for any more from the battling Irons, who battered the visitors from start to finish.

But for two decent saves from Bradford keeper Mark Paston the Hammers would have been home and dry by the half time break. At the other end Bradford had a couple of chances but one was saved well by David James and one was clipped wide of the post by a Bradford striker. A few more chances came about before the half time whistle including a David Connolly shot which hit the bar and a Jermain Defoe drive which the keeper did well to turn onto the post.

The second half brought about more of the same thing with West Ham dominating and Bradford unable to find anything from it. When West Ham lost the ball they worked back tried to win it back. It was like a changed side and it was buzzing inside Upton Park with the 30,000 crowd appreciating the football they were viewing.

The major downer of the evening came early in the second half when Rob Lee went in for a tough challenge and was forced off with injury as a result.

The game rolled on and the longer the game went on the more it looked like West Ham were going to add another goal to the tally. We were dominating play and the 30,000 West Ham supporters in the ground were getting behind the team more than ever. Just to think that we were playing Bradford City on a Tuesday night in the Nationwide and we had 30,000 and just west of us over in Chelsea they had 7,000 less for a Champions League game made me smile. I know who I’d rather support. Not only were the crowd behind the team but the entire stadium rising for the last fifteen minutes and singing Trevor Brookings Claret and Blue Army at the top of their voices really showed who we’re behind. Trevor, please stay.

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