Wednesday, September 21, 2005
Hammers Win in Carling Cup
West Ham are through to the third round in the Carling Cup after defeating a determined Sheffield Wednesday 4-2 last night.
Pardew named a drastically changed side from the team that beat Fulham on the weekend, keeping only Marlon Harewood, Bobby Zamora, and Tomas Repka in the starting lineup. James Collins made his debut start, while Gavin Williams, Mark Noble, Elliott Ward, Chris Cohen and Shaun Newton were all in the starting lineup. Shaka Hislop made his first senior start in goal for West Ham since returning to the club, and Christian Dailly was named in midfield. David Bellion and Hogan Ephraim were on the bench, while Academy players Tony Stokes and Matt Reed were named for the senior squad bench for the first time.
Bobby Zamora provided the opener in only the second minute of the match, smashing in a spectacular shot from Gavin William's pass. Shortly afterwards, Marlon Harewood pulled a shot just wide of the post, and Zamora forced a save from David Lucas with a powerful header from a Shaun Newton pass. Just before the half-hour mark, Glen Whelan shot over the bar for Wednesday, but the Hammers went into the break a goal ahead.
No sooner had the second half kicked off than Chris Brunt forced Shaka Hislop into an acrobatic tip-over. Ten minutes later, skipper Christian Dailly put the ball into the net for West Ham's second goal, with a strong header from Newton's corner. In the 63rd minute, Zamora got his second and West Ham's third after curling a brilliant right-footed volley over Lucas.
Wednesday soon fought back with two goals in two minutes, the first coming from a corner when Graham Coughlan headed into the net, and the second from David Graham after James Collins allowed him to turn and shoot past Hislop.
West Ham were given a further scare as the clock ticked down when Graham clipped the top of the bar, but substitute David Bellion settled the score six minutes from time by scoring a superb solo goal, turning two defenders before rifling in his shot.
Tony Stokes and Hogan Ephraim were handed their first-team debuts as injury time beckoned.
Alan Pardew said after the match, "It was a bit of a scare towards the end. We switched off a little at 3-0. Overall I have to be very pleased considering that's the most changes I've made as a manager. They all came out of it with some credit. We want to keep the winning mentality. The first-team boys we left behind will see the score. It will put pressure on them, and that's what we want."
