West Ham started the livelier in the first 10 minutes, but the Eagles started to grow into the game with a number of chances from corners, in particular a good downward header from Dikgacoi which had to be cleared off the line by Carroll, who was influential at both ends, forcing a great point blank save from Julian Speroni just before half time.
Both sides had good claims for a penalty turned down, as Palace felt Nolan had handled, and Eagles captain Jedinak bundled Carroll over at the other end. Both teams seemed to make a good point, and potentially at least one penalty should have been given. With the teams going in deadlocked at half-time, the game was well poised, and the crowd knew that one goal would likely change the game.
Coming out for the second half, Palace looked galvanised by Pulis' team talk, and started brightly, as McCartney was cautioned for bringing down Bolasie as he bared down on goal. Andy Carroll had a couple of clear chances inside the box, one of which was dragged wide, and the other which was blocked well by Damien Delaney, a member of a hard-to-break-down defensive unit which has been the basis for Palace's good form of late.
Jason Puncheon, a man in form if ever there was one, had a penalty shout turned down by Martin Atkinson after knocking the ball past Pablo Armero, and barely two minutes later, the West Ham full-back was guilty of an unnecessary foul inside the area on Cameron Jerome. The penalty was duly dispatched by Mile Jedinak, sending the travelling fans into raptures. Thereafter, West Ham were chasing the game, and it showed, as Allardyce brought off Jarvis and Downing for the two Coles, therefore forcing the team to play long balls, as opposed to trying the break the defence down out wide and swinging in crosses.
Palace's defence found this approach very easy to combat and their attack prospered, with a number of chances falling to Jerome, Puncheon and Bolasie, before the three attackers were brought of in favour of more defensive-minded players. Joe Cole had a couple of good chances late on, but failed to capitalise on them, with Eagles defenders throwing themselves in front of everything coming into the box.
Towards the end of the game, Hammers fans were flooding out of the gates in their droves. When the final whistle came, Allardyce was met with boos from the crowd and quickly disappeared down the tunnel, unsurprising, considering his team are now without a clean sheet in 9 games. In all, a disappointing performance from an uninspired West Ham team who clearly can't wait for the end of the season, but an impressive defensive display from a Palace team going from strength to strength.
That said, however disappointing or impressive the performance of each of the teams, we must not forget that some things in life are more important than football. In memory of Dylan Tombides, please consider donating, to try and combat all kinds of cancer at http://www.onefortheboys.com/
RIP Dylan Tombides
8/3/1994-18/4/2014
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