Played at the City Ground on Sunday 28^th December 2003

 

An excellent West Ham United performance gave Alan Pardew his first away win as West Ham manager, and condemned Nottingham Forest to yet another defeat. Marlon Harewood started against his old club, and the home fans were not too delighted to see him again.

 

Harewood soon made himself even more unpopular with the Forest fans by scoring in the seventh minute. A fabulous run down the left hand side by Matthew Etherington resulted in a cross being nodded down by Jermain Defoe, leaving Harewood with an easy opportunity to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.

 

The Irons were superb in the first half, and should have gone into the dressing rooms at half time with more than a 1-0 lead. Defoe had a shot saved by one of the best goalkeepers in the division, Darren Ward, who also saved a good volley from Hayden Mullins.

 

The second half was a slightly different affair, but Forest failed to capitalise on their superior possession. Paul Hart’s side had just one shot on target before the hosts were made to pay for their lack of cutting edge.

 

The excellent Tomas Repka made a trademark ‘hoof’ into the opposition penalty area, Defoe twisted and turned before unleashing a lethal right footed shot into the top-right hand corner of Darren Ward’s net, sending the 3,500-or-so Hammers fans in the Bridgford Stand into raptures with just five minutes remaining.

 

This was an excellent strike by Defoe, it is doubtful that he has had such a good ninety minutes in his whole career. He chased a lot, offloaded well, and played a vital part in the first goal.

 

Alan Pardew continued to impress the travelling Irons fans by sending every single player over to the away stand to thank our fans for their fabulous support, it was a shame that the Forest fans decided to stay quiet for the whole game, though.

 

By Phil Crook (p.crook@lycos.com)