19th April, 2008

KB: KUMB; HM Hammers Mad; ST Sunday Times; SE Sunday Express; SM Sunday Mirror; OB Observer;
DM Daily Mirror; GU Guardian; TM Times; HD Hammers Diary; SK Sky; DE Daily Express

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.

BBC Sport: Relegated Derby are still without a win under manager Paul Jewell as West Ham luckily found victory at Upton Park. A weak Dean Leacock challenge allowed Hammers striker Bobby Zamora to nod home on 25 minutes but Derby, showing rare creative intent, hit back. Tyrone Mears powered a fine equaliser over Robert Green on 65 minutes and the Rams were looking likely winners. But substitute Carlton Cole cushioned in a close-range volley 10 minutes later to leave the visitors desolate. With just one win all campaign, morale-sapped Derby face the prospect of becoming the first club in English league football for 109 years with such a low total of victories. West Ham have faded of late and, with next season in mind, manager Alan Curbishley made seven changes, handing 18-year-old striker Freddie Sears and James Tomkins, 19, their first Premier League starts.

Hammers Mad: West Ham had the lion's share of the first half as George McCartney had a shot blocked, while Scott Parker sent a rising 25-yarder high and wide before Tomkins headed over. With a goal difference of minus 58 and just three draws on their travels all season, it was no surprise when the dreadful Derby defence conceded for the 75th time this campaign on 20 minutes. McCartney - making his 50th successive appearance - floated over a right-wing free-kick which the unmarked Bobby Zamora met with a downward, six-yard header that gave flat-footed, ex-Hammer Roy Carroll no chance.

Sunday Mirror: Upton Park has become the byword this year for impatient fans and yesterday they booed off Alan Curbishley and his players - even though they'd won. The Hammers boss had already had a chorus of "you don't know what you're doing" when he took off 18-year-old striker Freddie Sears with 17 minutes left. And even though his replacement Carlton Cole hit the winning goal less than 200 seconds after coming on to prove the West Ham manager did know what he was doing it didn't spare Curbishley from more stick off the fans. "I'm disappointed by the crowd's reaction to be honest," admitted a bewildered Curbishley. "I know it's the trend. Last week I heard Gary Megson getting the same chants from Bolton fans and he's just won two games on the trot. I can't remember a time when one of my teams has been booed off for winning before but I'm sure it must have happened. I understand that if this crowd isn't happy they will let you know. It's happened to previous managers and it will happen to whoever comes after me. The flipside is if you can start winning games and playing some decent football they will be just as ferocious in their support.We saw that last season. But I just don't know why they don't recognise the depth of the problems we've had with injuries, and how well we've done to have got the results that we have." (Ralph Ellis, 20th April 2008)

Sunday Times: Alan Curbishley, West Ham’s manager, had the unpleasant experience of being booed off the field at the end by his own supporters. He was, he admitted, philosophically “a bit disappointed” but pointed out the significant fact that no fewer than 14 of his first team squad were injured. Of these, such major figures as Craig Bellamy, Matthew Etherington and Lee Bowyer were long-term casualties. On Friday, he learned that three more of his first-choice men, among them his centre-forward Dean Ashton, were for one reason or another unfit to play. This led inevitably to a patched-up side that included two teenagers in the centre-back James Tomkins, with whom Curbishley was pleased, and the striker Freddie Sears. It was somewhat ironic that the crowd should chant: “You don’t know what’re doing!” at Curbishley when he substituted Cole for Sears 28 minutes into the second half, since Cole it was who eventually scored the deciding goal. In retrospect, you did wonder why he, with his experience and physical power, had not been on from the beginning.

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)

Daily Mirror: Tyrone Mears has accused West Ham stars of being big-time Charlies who are failing to live up to their big-money reputations. Alan Curbishley's side were booed from Upton Park after grimly holding on for a lacklustre win against the worst side in Premier League history. And Mears, who was sold to Derby in the summer, claimed the Hammers players scuttled from the pitch at full-time "embarrassed" by their tepid second-half performance. Now a year on from the thrill of the Great Escape, the former Hammer reckons his old club need a great summer shake-up to inject some passion. "West Ham have a lot more big names now than when I was there but the spirit doesn't seem to be there like it was last season," Mears claimed. "Curbs transformed them last season and it was a miracle that they stayed up. But that was all down to their spirit and it doesn't seem to be there now. (Neil McLeman, 21st April, 2008)

The Times: West Ham, though, stole the points when Carlton Cole, who took the field to jeers after replacing Freddie Sears, converted Ljungberg’s cross from close range three minutes later. Cole is one of the players who has had increased first-team opportunities thanks to the many bumps and bruises in the East End, not that the locals have been impressed. The owners, too, have hinted that Alan Curbishley’s squad may have to be trimmed in the summer and Cole knows that he and others face a more strenuous battle for their futures at the club, let alone for playing time. “Do we have to fight for our futures? Definitely,” Cole said. “We have to fight all the time. We’ve had a lot of injuries and a few of the players have not played much. They’re going to want to get in the team next season. There’s going to be a lot of competition in terms of who’s going to stay and who’s going to go. There could be a few worried people this summer. But that’s how football is.”

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