Carling Cup Semi-final: West Ham United vs Birmingham City – Half Time Report
Starting XI for West Ham United: Green, Faubert, Tomkins, Reid, Upson, Spector, Sears, Noble, Parker, Obinna, Piquionne
Subs: Boffin, Cole, Boa Morte, Kovac, Nouble, Hines, Spence
Starting XI for Birmingham City: Foster, Carr, Dann, Johnson, Ridgewell, Larsson, Gardner, Hleb, Ferguson, Fahey, Jerome
Subs: Taylor, Murphy, Derbyshire, Zigic, Beausejour, Mutch, Jiranek
In the first leg of this all important Carling Cup semi-final, Premier League bottom-enders West Ham United took on the extremely talented Birmingham City.
A first half goal by Noble set the mood for the game, as West Ham United headed into the half with a well deserved lead.
Both sides were on the attack from the outset, with Jerome cutting the ball back to http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Robert-c31222 Green's goal on the 2nd minute. However, with Jerome on the right, there
was no one in the area and the ball went straight through to the left wing.
In the 4th minute, the ball was knocked left to Upson on the wing, who picked out Frederic Piquionne at the near post! Piquionne contorted his body to shoot but was blocked. As a result, the ball fell for Upson and his shot deflected wide for
a corner by Foster.
Next, West Ham passed the ball crisply in the opening 10 minutes, as Parker tried to lift the ball over Piquionne and into the path of Freddie Sears. It was then nodded out for a West Ham throw.
In the 13th minute, Mark Noble burst forward into the Birmingham box, before dinking a cross to Obinna at the back stick. Obinna headed it back to Spector on the near post, who lashed a volley on the turn across the face of goal, as it found Noble
on the right stick, and the midfielder lashed the ball in off Foster at the near post.
West Ham really took the game to the visitors. It was Brazilian football all the way from West Ham as both fullbacks went up in support! The ball was cut inside from the right to Spector, who took a shot from range. The shot was parried out for a corner
by Foster!
West Ham United deservingly had the lead at half time and Birmingham manager Alex McLeish’s tactics were blown out. Certainly, the manager would want to change some things and manage more possession or may well risk losing this fixture.
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