Red Cards Help Hammers At Lincoln

West Ham United are still unbeaten away from home and are back up to third place in the Sky Bet Championship table after they made sure that newly-promoted Lincoln City’s run without a home win continued with a second 6-0 victory in just over a month to equal a club record in what was a terrific performance at The ProAmpac Stadium on Wednesday night.

Nuno Espírito Santo made four changes from the team that drew 1-1 with Queens Park Rangers in Stratford five days earlier, as Joël Veltman, Mohamadou Kanté, Pablo Felipe and Joël Piroe all came into the starting line-up, as Kyle Walker-Peters, Tomáš Souček, Valentín Castellanos and Divine Mukasa dropped to the bench.

Youngsters Oliver Scarles, Airidas Golambeckis and Lewis Orford were included in the matchday squad.

Former West Ham midfielder Chris Cohen took over alongside Tom Shaw in a joint managership role from Michael Skubala in the summer and the encounter had been underway for less than three minutes when the pair were dealt a huge blow, as Tom Hamer was given a straight red card by referee Andrew Kitchen for a dangerous challenge on Veltman.

Although the Hammers had a full quota of players on the pitch, the Imps were working hard to sustain their resilience. Having said that though, the visitors were patient and tried their luck on several occasions. The trouble was that nothing was coming off for them.

Felipe was still waiting for his first goal in Claret and Blue and he had the opportunity to get it when he latched onto Kanté’s pass but unfortunately, home goalkeeper George Wickens wasn’t troubled by the effort, as it went wide.

Lincoln were then awarded numerous set-pieces and went close when a corner was only half cleared, before Conor McGrandles saw his first-time shot blocked shortly after.

The East Londoners were given a corner of their own just minutes later. Kanté met the delivery from captain Jarrod Bowen but, despite being free in the box, the Frenchman somehow contrived to miss the target with a header.

The night then got even easier for Espírito Santo’s men with twenty three minutes gone. McGrandles tried to atone for his poor backpass by bringing down Bowen but, he only succeeded in handing the visitors a free-kick and making the task even harder for the hosts, as he became the second player to be dismissed.

It is fair to say that Espírito Santo’s men weren’t making the most of their set-pieces here, as Arne Engles wasted another chance by sending the ball high and wide. Then an identical opportunity presented itself minutes later. However, this time around, it was left to Konstantinos Mavropanos to take responsibility but unfortunately, his attempt was no better.

West Ham are renowned for their large crowds and this season, they have seen plenty of goals and the team were determined to give them more to cheer here. They kept searching for the breakthrough, as Bowen, Veltman and Manor Solomon all had opportunities, but the game remained goalless.

To be fair to Mavropanos though, he did make amends for his earlier miss just before the break as he put his team in front when he headed in from Bowen’s latest corner. Had that opportunity not been converted, then I suspect that there might have been a similar reception to what the East Londoners received against Julien Stéphan’s men.

Both teams made alterations during the break, as Cohen and Shaw sent on Ryley Towler and Rob Street to take the places of Chiedozie Ogbene and Freddie Draper, while the Irons’ Head-Coach introduced Edvin Austbø into the action as Nottingham Forest loanee Morato was withdrawn.

Espírito Santo’s men definitely had their shooting boots on when the action restarted as just three minutes in, the man who the Portuguese had thrown into the fray came up trumps for him as he sent a scorcher of a shot past Wickens.

This may have been a midweek encounter, but there were still 1,307 Hammers in attendance. The team may not have been at the races in the first-half, but they certainly were making up for it though. Bowen hoped that he would be able to atone for the crucial penalty miss last time out and he did just that. The ball may have taken a slight deflection on its way into the net but nevertheless, they all count.

The Imps were still playing their part however, as Deji Elerewe headed wide after a free-kick had been sent into the box.

Espírito Santo decided to shuffle his pack again on fifty eight minutes as a double change was made with Mavropanos and Solomon making way for Golambeckis and Castellanos.

It was evidently clear that West Ham felt they could get more goals rather than settle for the three they had already amassed. They went on the rampage again, as Bowen, Felipe and Max Kilman all had a go at goal but neither could add to their advantage.

Castellanos was close to putting his name on the scoresheet, but was instead denied thanks to a miraculous goal-line clearance from Elerewe.

West Ham brought on another double change with sixty six minutes having been played, as both Walker-Peters and Souček replaced Veltman and Engles.

It’s become something of a running joke amongst the BBC Radio London sports team that given the amount of time he has been at the club, then perhaps Felipe should have scored more goals than he actually has. Well, after scoring the second equaliser in their 3-2 Carabao Cup exit at the hands of Premier League outfit Fulham in Stratford last month, they can rest easy knowing he now has his first league goal, as he headed Austbø’s corner into the net.

The hosts were clearly tiring but, now that their opponents had found their rhythm, there was no stopping them.

When Souček announced that he would be staying at the club this season, most of the fan base were just imagining what an asset he would be in this league. It is worth remembering that he only returned from injury last Friday and he already has two goals. He got in on the goalscoring act when he produced an exquisite finish, as he lifted the ball past Wickens. He wasn’t finished there either, as he claimed his brace with the team’s sixth of the night in the last minute of normal time to confirm the points.

The Irons are back in action on Saturday afternoon and they will be trying all they can to get back into the automatic promotion places, but they face a tough trip to South Wales to take on Swansea City.