West Ham scrape a win against blundering Birmingham
10-man West Ham United somehow managed to overcome Birmingham in the first leg of the Carling Cup semi-final at Upton Park.
Under fire manager Avram Grant can breathe a little easier now after he saw his side win 2-1 against fellow league strugglers Birmingham City. It was widely believed that the West Ham owners were waiting on the result of this tie to decide Grant’s fate.
The victory will ease some of the pressure off the Isreali, who will now be looking to carry the team’s form into the Premier League.
West Ham got off to a flying start as Birmingham goalkeeper http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ben-Foster-c7445 was called into action repeatedly during the starting minutes, showing a sign of things to come. The hosts took just 13 minutes to break the deadlock. Obinna’s header was cleared off
the line, only to bounce kindly at the feet of Noble. The midfielder poked the ball past Ben Foster from an impossible angle, giving the Hammers a vital one goal lead.
Avram Grant’s side continued to dominate the first half; however, they were unable to find a way past Foster. The Birmingham keeper pulled off a string of spectacular saves to keep the visitors in the match.
Birmingham manager Alex Mcleish opted to shake things up in the second half by sending on http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Scott-Dann-c32662. Murphy’s arrival spurred the visitors into action and Birmingham laid siege to the West Ham goal, creating chance after chance to level
the scores.
The pressure finally paid off in the 55th minute. Ridgewell beat his marker to get on the end of a http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Sebastian-Larsson-c32733 cross and powered home his header to bring Birmingham back on level terms.
West Ham were then dealt a huge blow after http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Victor-Obinna-c36080 was shown a straight red card at the hour mark. The winger was rightly sent off for a kick to Sebastian Larsson, reducing the Hammers to 10 men with almost a third of the match remaining.
Birmingham suddenly found themselves in a fantastic position to go on and win the match. It took some dogged defending from the hosts to keep Alex Mcleish’s side at bay, though it seemed that Birmingham would eventually find a way past http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Robert-c31222 Green. Avram
Grant saw the match slipping away and threw on Cole and Zavon Hines to try and save the game.
Amazingly, the Hammers retook the lead with just 12 minutes remaining, though they needed a huge blunder from Ben Foster to get them there. Cole’s weak shot slipped through the Birmingham keeper’s legs and into the back of the net. Avram Grant could hardly
believe his luck.
Despite a late onslaught by the visitors, West Ham held on to their precious lead. The win will be a huge boost for Avram Grant’s chances of retaining the manager’s chair.
For now though, the Israeli has no time to celebrate. Grant will be busy in preparing West Ham for a difficult test against Arsenal on Saturday.
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