Roy Hodgson saw both sides of his new team in a pulsating relegation scrap that was the classic six-pointer and that other popular clich�, the game of two halves. Hodgson, who watched the match before taking charge at The Hawthorns tomorrow, saw Albion 3?0 up at half-time, only to disintegrate after the interval, when they surrendered control and two priceless points.
Without Matthew Upson, their England centre-half, who was absent with Achilles trouble, West Ham were desperately disorganised and wide open at the back and Albion took full advantage in the first half. Keen to impress their new manager, or rather head coach as the club insist on calling him, they could have been four goals to the good after 12 minutes. Instead, they had to settle for two after eight. They were ahead after three, when Peter Odemwingie's short through pass found Graham Dorrans who, from 25 yards, fizzed a shot past Robert Green's right hand. Marc-Antoine Fortun� might have made it 2-0 a couple of minutes later when his shot was inadvertently blocked on the line by his team-mate. No matter, after eight Fortun� laid the ball back to Jerome Thomas, who fired it across Green and in, from left to right.
Youssouf Mulumbu now went lame, and had to be replaced, but West Brom were unaffected and should have gone 3-0 up when Thomas rounded Green, only to leave himself with a tricky angle and fall over six yards out. Again the miss was on no consequence, for in the 33rd minute Dorrans's long free-kick from the inside-left channel brought a characteristically maladroit reaction from the West Ham defence, nobody meeting the danger before Steven Reid, at the far post, nudged the ball past his own goalkeeper from three yards.
Scott Parker demanded a routine save from Boaz Myhill, who then pushed a shot from Demba Ba against his right-hand post and Gary O'Neil shivered the crossbar from distance, with Lu�s Boa Morte unable to tuck away the rebound, but the Hammers were dire, and Dorrans would have had Albion's fourth before half-time but for a top notch save from Green, flying to his left.
Home and hosed? Albion fans know better, and West Ham could easily have been level before the match was an hour old. They were back in contention six minutes after the interval, when Paul Scharne failed to cut out Mark Noble long ball over the top, leaving Ba to chest it down before scoring from close in.
Six minutes later Noble was the provider again, his free-kick headed sideways by Fr�d�ric Piquionne near the byline on the right for Carlton Cole to make it 3-2 from nodding range. Suddenly it was all West Ham, and after 59 minutes Piquionne was within inches of equalising when his header bounced against the crossbar.
To no surprise whatsoever, the Hammers' comeback was completed after 83 minutes, when Ba's second made it 3-3, the man from Senegal hooking in on the volley after Jonas Olsson headed a right-wing cross from Noble straight to him.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/feb/12/west-brom-west-ham-united-premier-league
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