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West Ham 3 - 0 Middlesbrough Crikey Curbs

After another 3 - 0 victory Hammers find themselves in the top four of the Premiership, and while the victory over Boro was not as emphatic as the scoreline suggests a win is a win, and when it catapults your club up the table it makes for nice viewing! This match could have ended up with a possible 5 - 4 scoreline, such were the amount of clear cut chances, at the end of the day Lee Bowyer ’stood up to the plate’ and bagged a corker of a goal with a wonderful volley that was set up by the much maligned Carlton Cole who had come on to replace the injured Craig Bellamy after only a dozen or so minutes. In a game of two halves West Ham were as incisive in the second as they were ineffective in the first, whatever Alan Curbishley said during his half time talk should be bottled and kept for prosperity because it certainly galvanised his team after a poor initial showing where the ‘long distance’ Internationals in particular looked a mite jaded. Whisper it quietly but Matty Etherington displayed the sort of form that should see him knocking on Steve McClaren’s door asking for an England place, he tore Boro apart and was instrumental in Hammers achieving their first home Premiership victory of this season’s campaign. Carlton Cole proved that he was able to stand up and be counted despite missing a sitter and ‘Ginge’ Collins was superb having been called in as a last minute replacement for the injured Anton Ferdinand. Boro hit the woodwork twice in this keenly contested match which saw ex-hammers target Luke Young concede an own goal that put Hammers further ahead before Dean Ashton wrapped up the points with his first goal since the FA Cup final against Liverpool….. West Ham * 01 Green * 02 Neill * 19 Collins * 06 Upson * 03 McCartney yellow card * 29 Bowyer * 17 Mullins * 16 Noble * 11 Etherington (78 Boa Morte ) * 10 Bellamy (26 Cole ) * 09 Ashton (81 Ljungberg yellow card ) Substitutes * 21 Wright, * 04 Gabbidon, * 07 Ljungberg, * 12 Cole, * 34 Boa Morte Middlesbrough * 01 Schwarzer * 02 Young * 08 Woodgate * 31 Wheater * 33 Taylor (83 Davies ) * 07 Boateng * 10 Rochemback (68 O’Neil ) * 03 Arca * 19 Downing * 11 Aliadiere (30 Sanli yellow card ) * 09 Mido Substitutes * 22 Jones, * 04 O’Neil, * 17 Sanli, * 18 Lee, * 24 Davies Ref: Steve Bennett Att: 34351