A couple of months on from the cup final Liverpool & West Ham served up another entertaining game.


West Ham had the first chance of note as early as the 3rd minute but Zamora failed to make the most of a Konchesky cross.
It was then our turn to attack and a minute later Gerrard looked like pulling the trigger again on a Cardiff style blaster, but he dragged it harmlessly wide. We kept pressing and in the 5th minute Pennant whipped in a great cross to Crouch who was clearly held down. Despite officials apparently focusing on this kind of shirt pulling, referee Wiley waved away our appeals.

That’s what we love about football – the consistency of referees – see the penalty awarded to Chelsea at Blackburn – not only is it nowhere near as bad as the pull on Crouch but the ball itself was nowhere near the Chelsea player when the award was given. Hey ho!


Still we pressed hard in the early minutes and a great move by Liverpool down the left ends with Garcia flashing a low shot wide. Seconds later Aurelio curls a wicked free kick towards the corner which Konchesky heads off the line. It really was pleasing football.
However it was the Hammers who drew first blood. What is it about West Ham and their ability to miss hit crosses to wrongfoot Pepe? This time is was Zamora on the right who sliced his cross goal bound. Reina, who had anticipated the cross, could only palm it into the net. Things could've got a lot worse a minute later when Harewood has a chance to double the lead but scuffs his shot wide with only Reina to beat.

Follow up:

We looked a little rattled for a couple of minutes but soon got back into the flow with decent efforts from Aurelio, Bellamy and Alonso. We seemed to be getting closer and then in the 42nd minute, the ever improving Agger picked up the ball in midfield and advanced towards the goal. His shot fizzed past the keeper and you could almost hear the words of Alan Partridge –

"Fuck me he’s twatted that".

It was an absolutely fantastic effort and you could see by the joy on Agger's face how much it meant to him.


Things got even better before the break when Garcia slotted a defence braking ball through to Crouch who deftly rounded the keeper to slot the ball home. Absolutely sodding fantastic.


To be fair to West Ham they came out blazing in the second half and again had an early chance. After an attack broke down Liverpool broke quickly and Gerrard should have done better from a great ball from Bellamy.


In the 52nd minute Kuyt came on for Crouch to make his debut. He was into the action immediately and unleashed a wicked shot just wide within a minute of coming on. Another chance within seconds saw him head just wide from Aurelio's cross.


Again the Hammers came back and in the 55th minute Benayoun finds space on the edge of the box and curls a shot just wide of Reina's goal.


In the 68th minute we should have killed the game off when Bellamy slots home from Kuyt’s pass. But unbelievably the goal was chalked off for off-side. TV replays show that quite clearly not off-side and the goal should have stood.

Frustration continued and 10 minutes later Pennant goes down in the area after another neat pass from Kuyt but the ref waves away the penalty claims – AGAIN! This one was a bit more dubious but you can bet your arse it would have been given in Lampard and Terry had been involved!


Right at the death Bellamy brilliantly played in Kuyt who just failed to give the ball back – which would have resulted in an open goal for Bellamy.


It was a decent performance and some really good pointers for a bright future – Agger had his best game yet in a Liverpool shirt and Kuyt and Bellamy should enough to suggest they could be the number one strike partnership in the future.


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