The Soccer Blog: twice

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Wednesday, 3 April 2013

Premier League: Andy Carroll scores twice as West Ham beat West Brom 3-1

Saturday 30th March 2013 17:08

Two goals from Andy Carroll helped West Ham take a step towards Premier League safety with a 3-1 win over West Brom.

The on-loan striker opened the scoring with a powerful header from a corner, with Gary O'Neil doubling the lead inside 30 minutes.

Carroll's deft finish put the Hammers clear and, although Graeme Dorrans pulled one back, West Brom finished with 10 men when Youssouf Mulumbu was sent off in stoppage-time.

West Ham were playing on home turf for the first time since the confirmation of their move away from the Boleyn Ground to the Olympic Stadium.

Maintaining their Premier League status between now and August 2016 is of the utmost importance, and three of the five points Sam Allardyce had targeted from their remaining nine games would go a long way to allaying any nagging fears of a swift return to the Championship.

A lively start saw both sides exchange chances before Carroll did open the scoring. Ricardo Vaz Te wasted an opening when he lashed a volley to the right of the post, and West Brom saw a goal rightfully disallowed when Gareth McAuley bundled the ball in at a corner, having collided with Jussi Jaaskelainen in the process.

The home keeper then made a brilliant save that doubled in value shortly afterwards. Romelu Lukaku's free-kick took a deflection that wrong-footed the former Bolton veteran, but he flung out his right hand to touch the ball onto the post and back into his hands.

When Carroll rose above the West Brom defence to head the ball past a helpless Ben Foster, Jaaskelainen's save was put into context, and Mohamed Diame went close to doubling the lead seconds later with a rasping shot that tore past a static Foster to go just over the bar.

Matt Jarvis shot over from close range, but West Ham did add to their lead on 28 minutes through a rapid counter-attack from a West Brom corner. Vaz Te teased the West Brom defence before finding O'Neil, who looped the ball across and beyond Foster with a sublime finish.

The hosts stayed in control until the break, but West Brom were a different proposition afterwards. Lukaku looked more like his old forceful self, but it was defender Billy Jones who went closest to scoring, driving into the box and forcing Jaaskelainen to smother his poked shot just a few yards out.

The arrival of Peter Odemwingie, booed by some West Brom fans for his recent Twitter outburst, upped the Baggies' tempo and the home fans were becoming anxious when Carroll settled the match with a moment of outstanding skill.

James Collins' free-kick dropped over the striker's right shoulder, and as he moved away from Jonas Olsson, Carroll volleyed the ball across and past Foster for his fourth goal in four games.

West Brom pulled one back with two minutes to go from the penalty spot after Lukaku had been caught by Matt Taylor and Winston Reid. Graham Dorrans fired the ball past Jaaskelainen, but the game ended badly for West Brom when Mulumbu lashed the ball in frustration at a West Ham player after conceding a free-kick deep into stoppage-time.

Referee Andre Marriner showed the midfielder a straight red card, meaning he will miss the next three games as West Brom's hopes of European football next season receded further.

Speaking after the game, Allardyce was full of praise for Carroll and was pleased the striker was able to demonstrate the full range of his ability.

Allardyce said: "He's not just strong in the air, as people perceive is his only strength, it's the quality on the floor, the hold-up play and then the technique on the volley, as we saw, was outstanding. It was a world-class finish, nobody can take that away from him, it was outstanding."

But Allardyce's counterpart Steve Clarke was left to lament a performance which he felt was unlike his West Brom team.

Clarke said: "In the first half, West Ham were better than us at the ugly side, winning the second balls and keeping the pressure on us.

"They did that well, and we didn't do it well enough. The goals we conceded are not like us, they were three disappointing goals to lose."

View the original article here

Sunday, 27 March 2011

(Video) Manchester United Striker Javier Hernandez Scores Twice for Mexico Against Paraguay

6 comments by Mad Dog and Glory on March 27th, 2011

He literally can’t stop scoring, Old Trafford’s new baby faced assassin has now scored 21 goals for club and country this season. Here he puts away two smart finishes as Mexico easily overcame Paraguay.

Sunday, 19 September 2010

Lightning strikes twice in London for Wolves

By: DJ | September 18th, 2010

fletchspurs For the second Saturday running Wolves left London with nothing having established a one goal lead. Last week Fulham got a winner in the 90th minute and today Spurs managed to score in the 87th and 91st minutes to send the visiting contingent home dejected.

Wolves opened with a formation they had used for part of the 2nd half at Fulham with Stearman replacing the suspended Berra and Jones and Fletcher replacing Van Damme and Ebanks Blake;

Hahnemann,

Foley, Craddock, Stearman, Ward

Mancienne,

Henry, Jones

Jarvis, Doyle, Fletcher

Spurs are a good passing team and at the start of the game Wolves were struggling to get on the ball, but from their only early attack Jarvis went down under a challenge from Gallas that looked a possible penalty from where Wolves fans were housed at the other end of the ground. After an early spell on the back foot Wolves were giving as good as they got but they had Hahnemann to thank for two excellent saves midway through the half. The first came from a dipping shot from Van Der Vaart then an even better one to tip over a goal bound header from Crouch.

Spurs should have taken the lead when for the first time Bale got past Foley on the right. After outpacing the Wolves full back he got tot the line and put in a perfect cross that found Keane on the edge of the six yard box but the former Wolves striker, who looks a shadow of his former self, glanced his header wide when it looked easier to score. And Wolves were to make them pay for the missed chances at the end of the half when Foley, Jarvis and Jones linked together on the right and a low cross was turned in from close range by Fletcher. The half time whistle came as the Wolves fans were singing ‘1-0 to the dirty boys’.

After the break we waited for a Spurs onslaught that didn’t come as Wolves were holding their lead quite comfortably. This despite losing Jarvis and Fletcher who both went off limping to be replaced by Van Damme and Edwards. Wolves were now playing 4-1-4-1 with Doyle on his own up front. If anything Wolves looked even more comfortable after the subs as they had been struggling to get Jarvis and Fletcher into the game but both subs made a good impact.

But with less than 15 minutes to go Spurs sub Hutton set off on a run from inside his own half and was unchallenged until the penalty area. He pushed the ball past Ward on the left side of the area and was brought down for a clear penalty from which Van Der Vaart sent Hahnemann the wrong way.

Shortly afterwards Foley was sent flying after the ball had gone leading to shouts of ‘If that was Wolves you’d have sent him off’ from the away fans but incredibly not even a foul was given. Then within 30 seconds we amazingly we had an identical incident on Van Damme on the other side of the field and at least this time the ref gave a free kick and a yellow card to Van Der Vaart. The scoreline suggests that Wolves folded after losing their lead but nothing could be further from the truth as with Van Damme and Doyle prominent Wolves won a succession of corners. A goalbound Van Damme volley was blocked, a Dave Jones free kick went just wide and Dave Edwards was inches away from connecting with a diving header from a dangerous cross.

But it all turned sour for Wolves at the end. A Huddlestone shot was blocked but fell perfectly for Pavlyuchenko to have a simple task to slot home. Then Stearman made his one mistake of the game as he hesitated on a clearance and when he finally tried to hook the ball clear it hit Hutton and looped into the net.

Hahnemann – his best performance of the season so far with some good saves and collection of crosses.

Foley – only beaten once by Bale all day in another good showing.

Ward – gave away the penalty but had another sound game.

Craddock – never put a foot wrong and dealt well with the threat of Crouch.

Stearman – at fault for the 3rd goal but until them had an excellent game

Mancienne – made some good tackles but sometimes chasing shadows with Spurs good passing

Henry – had a decent game but I got the impression he was keeping out of trouble today

Jones – had a better game and was instrumental in a good spell for Wolves just before the break

Jarvis – struggled to get into the game but came into the middle to cause Spurs some problems at the end of the first half with his pace before worryingly limping badly when he went off

Doyle – led the line well with great close control and hold up play

Fletcher – didn’t seem suited at all by the role he was asked to play on the left and goal apart made little impact.

Van Damme – is clearly getting up to pace and was a real handful for Spurs late on

Edwards – usual full of energy showing

I can’t say I like the formation we used today as we struggled to get Fletcher and Jarvis into the game and there is often a gap ahead of the full backs due to playing a narrow midfield. But it got us a lead and with 5 minutes left the general view of Wolves fans was that it was a job well done. But we can’t escape the fact that we have not won since the opening game and with a nasty run of fixtures on the horizon in a month’s time we need to get a win or two from the next three games at home to Villa and West Ham and away at Wigan.

Category: Team News

Tags: Team News
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