Carling Cup – Half time Review: Sunderland versus West Ham United
Sunderland and West Ham played out a cracking first half of football in the Carling Cup’s third round of matches as both the English Premier League teams took in each other in what was expected to be a thrilling encounter. West
Ham travelled to Sunderland’s Stadium of Light to play the match and started the first half strongly as in the first minute of the match the Hammers forced a corner. This was taken by Victor Obinna and Sunderland’s Simon Mignolet was forced to make a save
from the ensuing set piece which almost found its way into the back of Sunderland’s goal.
In the second minute of the match, a free kick was awarded to West Ham United for a foul by Cristian Riveros on Radoslav Kovac. Manuel da Costa took the direct free kick but the set piece was again wasted by the team from London.
Sunderland found it hard to find their feet in the opening stages of the match as West Ham were looking much brighter and fitter in the opening fifteen minutes.
In the third minute of the half, West Ham’s Victor Obinna had a shot on goal from outside the Sunderland penalty area which missed the black cat’s goal. It was a fine effort which lacked a little accuracy as West Ham looked to
capitalize on their dominance early on in the match. In the ninth and eleventh minutes of the half, Obinna again tried his luck but none of his strikes found the mark as all of them failed to test the Sunderland goal keeper.
In the fourteenth minute of the first half, Victor Obinna was fouled by Anton Ferdinand and as a result the referee awarded a free kick. Scott Parker crossed the ball in from the free kick but it was met by Phillip Bardsley for
Sunderland who expertly hooked the ball clear. Obinna was West Ham’s most threatening player early on and his runs and frequent efforts towards the Sunderland goal were proving to be quite a handful for the black cats’ midfield and defence.
In the eighteenth minute of the match, Danny Welbeck took his first shot of the match and it forced the West Ham goalkeeper Marek Stech into a fine save. This was the first time Sunderland tested the West Ham goalkeeper who was
making his first appearance for the Hammers in the 2010-2011 season. At the twentieth minute mark, Kieran Richardson tried his luck with a well taken shot but his strike was well off the mark as well as Sunderland made an obvious effort to come back into the
game.
In the thirtieth minute of the match, West Ham United pushed forward and almost scored with Victor Obinna’s shot from the right side of the Sunderland penalty area. However Mignolet made a fine save from Victor’s effort. From the
rebound, Frederic Piquionne tried his luck at goal but his effort was also saved by Mignolet inside the Sunderland goal.
West Ham finally opened the scoring in the thirty fifth minute of the match as Victor Obinna and Piquionne again combined inside the Sunderland penalty area. Victor played the ball to Frederic who was unmarked inside the Sunderland
danger area and the Frenchman dispatched a fine finish into the right bottom corner of the Sunderland net. Mignolet had no chance to save the shot as it was just from six yards out. Piquionne’s goal gave the Hammers a vital one goal lead with just ten minutes
to go in the first half of the match.
Sunderland got their equalizing goal right before the half time whistle in the fortieth minute of the match through their summer signing, Asamoah Gyan. The Ghanaian striker got his goal through a fantastically executed header after
connecting with Jordan Henderson’s cross from the left side of Sunderland’s attack. The halftime therefore finished with the score level at 1-1.
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