English Premier League – First Half report: Sunderland versus West Ham United
The match kicked off with Sunderland on the front foot as Wellbeck, the Manchester United winger who is on loan at Sunderland played it to Bent tried a one-two with him but the play died out as Mathew Upson intercepted the pass and cleared
the ball away. In the 7th minute of the match, much to the delight of away fans, Kieran Richardson and Boa Morte went into a tackling mode but the former came off as worse. However, the referee deemed Boa Morte was the aggressor and
promptly showed him a yellow card.
Soon after, referee brandished his yellow card yet again as this time it was the Sunderland midfielder Lee Cattermole who went into the official’s book. It was a late sliding tackle by the Englishman nonetheless he was harshly booked as
it wasn’t dangerous. Lee Cattermole was obviously distraught at going into the book in the very first ten minutes of the match.
In the 14th minute of the match, Lee Cattermole was played in space by Darren Bent outside the West Ham United penalty area. Lee unleashed a powerful shot on target but Robert Green, the West Ham United goalkeeper
was at hand to save the shot, not only did he save the shot, he also held onto the ball and West Ham regained possession.
In the 15th minute of the match, Sunderland appealed for a penalty after Tomkins had allegedly handled the ball but the referee waved play on after he deemed that it was an unintentional hand ball. It was a lucky
break for the defender as a penalty early on in the match would have opened the flood gates for Hammers.
In the 21st minute of the match, Hammers put together a nice passing interchange in front of the Sunderland goal. In the end, Victor Obinna tried his luck on Gordon’s goal but the Sunderland goalie was equal to
the task as he held onto the shot. West Ham were on the back foot for most part of the first half as Sunderland kept possession of the ball more often. When the Black Cats had control of the ball they utilized it well as they tried to pry open the West Ham
defence by using wide players in shape of Wellbeck and Richardson.
Not only that but their crosses were well executed too, however West Ham’s defending in numbers kept their net dry from balls. Sunderland soon took the lead as West Ham tried to push up the field so that they can catch Gyan in an offside
position. However, Tomkins was at fault yet again as this time he was the one who played Gyan onside. The Ghanaian collected the ball and then played it to Henderson who made a late run into the West Ham penalty area. The Englishman rounded the move off with
a fine finish in the 34th minute as Sunderland took a one goal lead.
In the 38th minute, Carlton Cole went into the referee’s book after stomping on Mensah’s Achilles. It was a bad move by the former Chelsea striker who was rightly shown a yellow card by the referee. Sunderland dominated
the first half in all terms as they totally outplayed West Ham United. In the 43rd minute, West Ham United almost got their equalizer through Jonathan Spector.
The former Manchester United man sprung off Henderson in the midfield area and then went past Ferdinand but just couldn’t apply the finishing touch that was needed to get the equalizer. Nonetheless, the first half came to an emphatic end
with Sunderland in front with just a single goal scored by Jordan Henderson.
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