26th December, 2007

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

JS John Simkin EG Eggy BF Bishops Finger DO Dodger SH Southend Hammer HG Hgster
MA Iron Mark NY Nicky RB Rob MA Matt KB Kay Bee CB Chrissie Boy HK Hong Kong Hammer

Sky Sports: West Ham United endured further frustration at Upton Park after heing held to a 1-1 draw by 10-man Reading. Alan Curbishley's side have not won at home in over two months and the Hammers struggled to break down a stubborn visiting rearguard. Reading were reduced to 10 men just before the half-hour mark when Brynjar Gunnarsson was sent off for a two-footed challenge on Hayden Mullins. Nolberto Solano cleverly put West Ham ahead before half-time before Dave Kitson's fine volley levelled the scores on the hour mark. In injury-time, Dean Ashton headed against the post, but defeat would have been unjust on a Reading side still to win away in the league this season.

BBC Sport: Dave Kitson's superb second-half strike earned 10-man Reading only their third away point of the season at Upton Park. The visitors looked more threatening until Brynjar Gunnarsson saw red for a two-footed lunge at Hayden Mullins. Nolberto Solano dinked West Ham ahead and Marcus Hahnemann denied Scott Parker but Kitson latched on to Nicky Shorey's pass to fire home expertly. Jonathan Spector and Dean Ashton hit the woodwork as West Ham pressed in the closing stages but Reading hung on.

Hammers Mad: Now enjoying the advantage of an extra man, West Ham pressed on and after Ashton deposited the ball on to the roof of the net, they took a 42nd-minute lead, when Solano picked up the pieces after Cole was halted on the edge of the Reading area. Seizing onto the loose ball, the Peru international got behind Nicky Shorey and cleverly lofted the ball over the advancing Hahnemann and beyond Ibrahima Sonko to give West Ham an interval lead. The workaholic Mullins then scorched a shot across the face of goal and, early in the second half, Scott Parker just found the angle too tight as Hahnemann saved. Buoyed by those let-offs, Reading took advantage of what Curbishley described as a 'shocking piece of defending' on the hour, when the patient Shorey returned a defensive clearance back into the heart of the home defence, where the unmarked Kitson turned and fired a 12-yarder wide of the exposed Green. In reply, Jonathan Spector headed against the outside of Hahnemann's near post and then Freddie Ljungberg saw the visiting keeper scoop his close-range effort high into the East End sky. By now, resilient Reading were defending with determination and in their droves and, although Curbishley shuffled the pack with a couple of substitutions, his side, who saw Ashton head against the post in stoppage time, had to settle for a point as opposed to the three that they had earlier had firmly in their grasp.

Iain Dale: Well that really was two points lost. Unforgiveably so. This was a lacklustre showing against ten men who we should have wiped off the park. The truth is that they showed the spirit we lacked. I can’t think of a single move which deserved the accolade of being made by West Ham United. Our defence was strong, but we created little on the wings and too often lost out in midfield. Cole and Ashton were well off the pace and Camara was even worse when he came on as a sub for Cole.

Daily Telegraph: With Dave Kitson and Kevin Doyle in bright and breezy form up front, Reading looked ready to end the wait for their first away win of the season. Doyle headed straight at Robert Green from Kitson's flipped cross, then the two strikers combined to fashion a close-range chance for Bobby Convey whose shot brought the best out of Green. All that attacking intent was immediately curbed by Gunnarsson's red card. Chances for West Ham's Matthew Upson and Dean Ashton came and went almost immediately, but just before half-time Carlton Cole stumbled to the ground just outside the Reading penalty area, and in the confusion that followed the ball broke loose for Nolberto Solano to burst forward and beat the advancing Marcus Hahnemann with a clever chip. (Clive Tyldesley, 27th December, 2007)

Daily Mirror: Despite Nolberto Solano scoring his first goal at Upton Park just before the break, Curbishley admitted "shocking" defending allowed Dave Kitson's to score a deserved equaliser on the hour. And he conceded the West Ham fans were right to be frustrated by another sub-standard home display. "You expect to win your home games but we haven't done it here and we know it," said Curbishley, who has also seen his team held by Wigan and Bolton at home this season. They are as frustrated as me, the fans. We are all frustrated. I have said all season the players are giving their all. I have asked some of them to play out of position and they have given me their lot. We are on 26 points and I will take that. We are doing it the wrong way around at the moment. Our last few away games we have beaten Blackburn, Derby and Middlesbrough and have had a good go at Chelsea. "We seem to set our fans by winning away and then coming back here and not doing it. It is not for the want of trying." But West Ham did want for basic competence in a display littered with carelessly mislaid passes, crosses failing to beat the first defender and players failing to take attacking responsibility. (Neil Mcleman, 27th December, 2007)

The Times: Reading still have not won away in the Premier League this season, while West Ham United have been dismal at Upton Park, where this was their fifth consecutive game without a victory. Yesterday they failed to profit from a goal and a man advantage at half-time after the dismissal, for a flying two-footed tackle, of Brynjar Gunnarsson, the Reading midfield player. Injuries are advanced as part of the explanation for their home form, but have not prevented West Ham winning three of their past four away league games. “We’re massively disappointed to have dropped two points,” Alan Curbishley, the West Ham manager, said. “We seem to set our fans up by winning away from home and coming back here and not doing it. The games we have lost have been to top-six sides, but it’s the other games – we’ve drawn with Bolton, Wigan and again today. We’re doing it the wrong way round at the moment. The fans are as frustrated as me. The players are giving their all, but the experienced ones are missing.” (Nick Szczepanik, 27th December, 2007)

The Guardian: A flurry of injury-time activity, during which Scott Parker missed one outstanding chance and Dean Ashton headed against a post, was never going to be enough to mute the chorus of home disapproval which followed the final whistle. In fact, if decibels are any sort of measure, Alan Curbishley is not much more popular with the West Ham faithful than his predecessor, Alan Pardew, was shortly before he was sacked last December, and it was not hard to see why. Reduced to 10 men after half an hour, and a goal down going into the break, Reading scored a deserved equaliser and had no problems containing a Hammers side badly lacking in creativity and, less forgivably, a decent work-rate. Not that Curbishley saw anything wrong with his side's effort. "Of course we should have taken advantage of the sending-off, and it wasn't spectacular, but we had enough chances to have scored a winner," the West Ham manager said after a result that leaves the east Londoners with two victories in nine matches at home. "I can't ask any more of the players I have available; they're giving everything they've got," Curbishley went on. "Sometimes it isn't good enough, when we're drawing games here we perhaps think we should win, but overall I'm delighted with them." It was, Curbishley acknowledged, an opinion that might not be shared by every supporter .(Richard Rose, 27th December, 2007)

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