English Premier League Match Review: West Ham United versus Bolton Wanderers
West Ham took on Bolton Wanderers in their second English Premier League match of the season and their first home game of the new league season at Upton Park. The Hammers were looking to bounce back from their disappointing start to the season, as they lost their first league game against Aston Villa at the Villa Park.
Conversely their opponents on the night Bolton were looking to get their first three points on the English Premier League table, after they drew with Fulham on the opening day of the English Premier League season. West Ham deployed a 4-4-2 formation at Upton Park with Carlton Cole and Frederick Piquionne in attack. The Hammers had their local boy Mark Noble along with Scott Parker in central midfield with Kieran Dyer and the Mexican new comer Pablo Barrera in support. At the back West Ham United, Gabbidon and Upson played in central defense while Faubert and Ilunga were used in their respective full back positions.
For Bolton Wanderers, Owen Coyle installed a similar flat back four formation with Davies and Elmander forming the two man strike force. In midfield, Muamba, Petrov, Lee and Holden lined up for Bolton Wanderers. Steinsson, Knight, Cahill and Robinson were employed by Coyle as the flat back four. Andre Marriner was the appointed referee for the match between the two English sides.
Right at the beginning of the match, in the 3rd minute of the first half Elmander had a brilliant chance to give Bolton the lead after receiving a terrific pass from Martin Petrov but the well built center forward could not finish the chance for the Wanderers. The first yellow card of the match went to Robinson from Bolton Wanderers side after his scything tackle on the Mexican, Pablo Barrera. This booking in question took place in the 10th minute of the match.
West Ham United looked the fresher of the two sides at the start of the match as they had some good chances to score themselves in the opening twenty minutes of the first half. In the 27th minute of the match, Bolton conceded a corner after Faubert’s vicious volley was tipped away by Jaaskelainen. From the ensuing corner, Cahill caught a stray elbow on his face and therefore blood erupted from the point of contact. For a short time, Bolton’s defender had to go off the field to receive some treatment.
Steinsson was the second person to get booked in the match as he pulled back Kieran Dyer in the 30th minute of the match. In the 32nd minute, Steinsson was again penalized by the referee, this time for his push on the West Ham striker Carlton Cole, inside the box. As a result West Ham received a penalty kick which was taken by Cole but the shot was saved brilliantly by Jaaskelainen. In the 38th minute of the match, Kevin Davies was booked by the referee for his nasty looking challenge on Ilunga. West Ham almost took the lead before the end of the first half as in the 43rd minute of the match; Kieran Dyer unleashed a brutal shot which only found the goal post.
In the 47th minute, right after the second half got under way, Kevin Davies scored with some help from West Ham’s defender Mathew Upson. Bolton’s striker Elmander nodded the ball onto Davies, who just got a small touch on it to divert the ball into the back of West Ham’s net. In the 54th minute of the second half, West Ham made their first change as Reid came on for Mathew Upson, who had sustained a head injury in a goal mouth melee.
Scott Parker went into the referee’s book in the 55th minute of the match for his challenge from behind on Muamba. In the 68th minute, Bolton doubled their lead to two goals after Elmander met Lee’s finely timed cross to put the ball past a despairing Robert Green. Avram Grant brought in Benny McCarthy in the 77th minute of the match in place of Kieran Dyer for West Ham United.
Immediately after the substitution, Parker was pushed down in the box by Bolton’s central defender Cahill, as a consequence referee pointed straight towards the spot. The resulting penalty kick was taken by Mark Noble this time around and the local West Ham academy graduate dispatched it away perfectly to bring the score to 2-1.
Elmander again scored much to West Ham’s disappointment in the 84th minute of the match as the Swede connected with the ball to take Bolton’s lead to 3 goals in comparison to West Ham’s one. In end West Ham didn’t even make a proper effort to come back into the game after Bolton’s third goal as the match ended with a score line at West Ham United 1, Bolton Wanderers 3.
Tags: