Sky Sports: West Ham's young striker, Freddie Sears, making his first start for the club, continued to give Leacock a difficult time with several clever runs into the penalty area. West Ham should have done better when Sears and Ljungberg combined neatly in the 33rd minute but the Swede's final ball to the youngster was far from the quality expected. Derby had a scare moments later when veteran defender Stubbs required lengthy treatment on a leg injury before being allowed to carry on. In the 37th minute, Zamora had a second goal ruled out for offside after the West Ham striker had managed to elude the Derby defence. But it required an acrobatic save from Robert Green in the 38th minute to preserve West Ham's lead. A cross from the left by David Jones was head goalwards by Robbie Savage only for Green to tip the ball over the crossbar.
KUMB: With 73 minutes on the clock came the first substitution with Sears going off to be replaced by Cole. This prompted chants of “you don’t know what you’re doing.” This seemed a tad unfair to me under the circumstances. Sears had struggled to make much of an impact and was clearly tiring. On the other hand Zamora’s touch had been poor throughout and my own preference would normally be for a little and large combination up front so I wouldn’t have been too surprised to see Zamora being the one to go. Either way the front pairing needed freshening up so the change had merit. The move paid dividends within a few minutes. In one of the few examples of decent football of the game, Noble played a lovely return pass inside the full-back to Ljungberg whose cross across goal was turned into the roof of the net from close range by Cole. A couple of minutes after the goal Solano came on to replace Faubert. Solano got a few interesting looking crosses in over the remaining ten minutes or so but at the end it was the visitors who had a couple of chances to equalise, a Savage free header going harmlessly over as the three minutes of stoppage time started. At this point Boa Morte replaced Ljungberg to a chorus of boos. Now I understand the principle that states you have a right to boo a player because you’ve shelled out your hard-earned to watch a match but booing someone before they’ve actually stepped onto the pitch seems stupid to me... On the bright side, Tomkins continued to show promise which, given the number of defenders we have on the treatment table, is no bad thing. (Gordon Thrower, 21st April 2008)
Sky Sports: Bobby Zamora, still preferred to Dean Ashton as a starter, chalked up two spectacular misses, skewering one shot across goal for a throw-in and then letting Dyer's cross run under his foot with only Chris Kirkland to beat in the 21st minute. (Hayley Paterson, 28th August, 2007)
Hammers Mad: And with Craig Bellamy and Kieron Dyer busily buzzing around the Wigan defence, West Ham were left to rue the fact that Bobby Zamora had, seemingly, left his shooting boots in the dressing room with a series of mis-kicks and airshots. On the quarter-hour mark, Mark Noble floated over a precision cross that was met by the soaring Zamora, who sent a downward header bouncing tantalisingly wide of Kirkland's right-hand post to the dismay of the home crowd. (Footymad, 27th August, 2007)
KUMB: On 63 minutes, Zamora probably had the best chance to break the deadlock after Anton floated in a ball from the right. He trapped the ball on the edge of the six yard box but chipped at it rather than putting his foot through it. A minute later Matty created another chance for Zamora after he made a superb run into the box. Zamora had a snap at the loose ball but it went spinning across the face of goal... Got into a number of promising positions only to finish poorly.
(East End Martin, 20th August, 2007)
Sky Sports: West Ham looked more dangerous after the break and Zamora twice should have done better in the space of three minutes. The ex Brighton player should have at least hit the target after controlling a deep Ferdinand cross but lofted over the bar. Then Zamora volleyed over from close range after another good run by Etherington. (Lewis Rutledge , 18th August, 2007)
KUMB: It made an immediate difference as just four minutes in McCartney set Matty off down the left. A dangerous cross was sent in which Bellamy failed to flick on, but Ljungberg managed to retrieve the ball and lay it off centrally where Zamora and Mullins did nothing more than get in each other’s way. Zamora eventually got a harmless snap shot away well wide of the right hand post. On 15 minutes, there was a similar piece of approach play as Zamora did well to win a ball and then chipped a great ball over the top of the defence to find the waiting Matty. He rifled a first time shot cum cross across the six yard box which evaded the lunging Ljungberg much to the anguish of the fans behind the goal. It was game over on 86 minutes when Zamora lost the ball badly to allow a bursting run forward from Onuoha who laid off a pass to his fellow substitute Geovanni who smashed the ball past Green. (East Stand Martin, 13th August)
The Independent: Ljungberg brought a touch of Arsenal quality to his operations wide on the right, linking effectively with the overlapping captain Lucas Neill, while Bellamy's quickness off the mark regularly flustered the home back line. Southend's best efforts at attack provided little more than heading practice for Anton Ferdinand and Danny Gabbidon as West Ham soon took command. First, a Neill free-kick, met ferociously with Bobby Zamora's head, was repelled one-handed by Darryl Flahavan, then another Zamora header rebounded off the goal frame, as did the committed striker. Bellamy headed straight at Flahavan, and Lee Bowyer scooped over before Zamora claimed the opening goal on the half-hour. Meeting Ljungberg's long ball, he spotted Flahavan off his line and deliberately looped his header over the keeper. Bellamy scored easily just before the break with a bright yellow boot when Bowyer's effort rebounded from the bar. A third followed quickly on the resumption when Steve Hammell left a back-pass short. Zamora rounded Flahavan but, forced wide, rolled back an inviting ball which Ljungberg put away unfussily. Southend's captain Kevin Maher pulled one back, shooting from long range through a packed penalty box. (29th July, 2007)
The Observer: Curbishley was heartened by the superior fitness, pace and slick passing presented to Southend. It was a contest effectively ended by two first-half goals. The opener came after 29 minutes. Ljungberg played a clever diagonal from the right. Darryl Flahavan thought he could claim it before Bobby Zamora, but, having advanced to the edge of the area, the West Ham No 9 beat the Southend keeper with a looping header that rolled in off a post. Bellamy, the day's best player, then got his reward when Lee Bowyer headed Matthew Etherington's ball against the bar. From the rebound, the Wales captain finished. That was after 39 minutes. At the interval, Curbishley will have requested more of the same and he received it. Zamora laid the ball back for Ljungberg and Sweden's captain showed his quality by coolly side-footing home. (28th July, 2007)
Newham Recorder: Bobby Zamora and Nigel Reo-Coker had already gone close when on 13 minutes, West Ham grabbed the lead. Zamora combined with Yossi Benayoun on the right-hand side before the Israeli international midfielder cleverly back-heeled the ball into the striker's path. Zamora took one touch and then let fly with a stunning 20-yard left-foot shot that left goalkeeper Tim Howard motionless as it flew into the top corner for his 11th of the season. "He's scored some terrific goals," confirmed the manager. "I think everybody knows we have been patching him up and putting him out there a little bit, but I think he has revelled in that. He is a very, very fit and strong player and he is an honest player as well."
