Hammers Make League Breakthrough

Although it didn’t ultimately save them from relegation, the West Ham United fan base were delighted when they beat Wolverhampton Wanderers in Stratford back on 10 April. Well, matters looked like they were going the same way on Tuesday night, but two goals from the visitors meant it was a far closer game than their previous meeting.

Nuno Espírito Santo made four changes from the side that earnt a point away at Watford at the weekend, as Konstantinos Mavropanos had recovered from injury. Oliver Scarles also returned to the defence, while Pablo Felipe and Joël Piroe were the other players to be given starts.

Joël Veltman, Airidas Golambeckis, Mohamadou Kanté and Valentín Castellanos dropped to the bench. Norwegian winger Edvin Austbø took his place amongst the substitutes after he moved to East London on Monday. Finlay Herrick, Keiber Lamadrid, Ezra Mayers and Joshua Ajala were the other options available to the home team.

Having beaten Stoke City three days earlier, César Peixoto’s men were hoping to claim a third successive victory and they started well. Fer López and Mateus Mané went close but good interventions from both home goalkeeper Mads Hermansen and Kyle Walker-Peters prevented the visitors from following the example of Charlton Athletic and going ahead early.

Peixoto’s team were still controlling possession but didn’t have any further chances until they hit the bar twice in quick succession. Raúl Jiménez had the first attempt when he tried to volley in from Mané’s corner. Then the second came after a great team move involving Jackson Tchatchoua and Mané.

West Ham were fortunate to survive but to be fair to the hosts, they went on to go in front. The game was only thirty three minutes old when Arne Engles played Divine Mukasa in and the 19-year-old struck a powerful shot from 25-yards which gave visiting goalkeeper José Sá no chance.

It seemed that was the spark needed to get the home side going as they then took charge. Max Kilman was close to getting a second but, Wolves somehow managed to prevent their former defender from doing so.

The visitors appeared to give themselves a mountain to climb going into the break after López needlessly fouled Piroe in the box. Captain Jarrod Bowen was once again on penalty duties after Castellanos had missed chance to earn his side a vital point against the Addicks. The cheers from the majority inside the stadium certainly wouldn’t have left anyone in any doubt that he had confidently stepped up and sent a helpless Sá the wrong way.

Just as the Irons thought they would be taking a comfortable advantage into half-time, Peixoto’s side halved the deficit when the ball deflected off Mukasa and fell invitingly for Marshall Munetsi, who got the better of Mavropanos and beat Hermansen.

When referee Lewis Smith blew the whistle for the break the home side knew they would have to do more if they were going to win this game.

López had a chance to level the scores just minutes after the teams had reemerged from the tunnel and he nearly did, but fortunately for the home faithful, the ball ended up in the side netting.

The East Londoners put more distance between them and their opponents on fifty three minutes, as Mukasa helped himself to another goal, although his shot did take a slight deflection off Nasser Djiga.

Three minutes later, Espírito Santo introduced both Veltman and Castellanos into the fray, as Walker-Peters and Piroe made way.

The crossbar at the Bobby Moore end of the ground was living a charmed life in the game, as it was the turn of the Hammers to hit it twice but the difference this time was, the ball did cross the line and Mavropanos was to once again rediscover his goalscoring prowess.

Having scored at one end, the Greek international inadvertently had a hand in a second for Wolves. He turned Tchatchoua’s cross into his own net.

Seconds after that setback, the Hammers’ Head-Coach made another double change, as both Lamadrid and Kanté were sent on to replace Mukasa and Felipe.

Another ten minutes had passed and unbelievably the former Arsenal player had the chance to add a second goal for the home team and his third of the encounter but he unfortunately missed the target from another Engles’ corner delivery.

The man in the home dugout shuffled his pack again with eleven minutes of normal time to play, as Austbø entered the fray for Manor Solomon.

López was a constant threat to the home side all night and he had two more chances to get his side, what would have been a well-earned point but fortunately, he failed to make the most of them which was good news for West Ham fans who were able to celebrate a first victory of the new campaign. They do it all again on Saturday afternoon when Derby County are the visitors.

Tuesday was course transfer deadline day and Espírito Santo was keen to get more players in before the closure of the window at 11pm. Prior to kick-off in tonight’s encounter it was announced that Morato had made the move to join up with his former boss on a loan deal until the end of the current campaign.

A few other moves that the Hammers have made this summer have come outof nowhere. An example of one such move is Adama Boiro’s arrival from Athletic Club in La Liga. Both will be hoping to play some part against John Eustace’s side at the weekend.

However, a pair of players that the Irons’ chief won’t have at his disposal are defenders Jean-Clair Todibo and Kaelan Casey as both have signed loan deals with French club RC Lens and Sky Bet League One outfit Stevenage respectively. Todibo’s deal includes an obligation to buy.