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West Ham United Season 2003-2004

NATIONWIDE LEAGUE DIVISION ONE/CARLING CUP/FA CUP
= Dublin Hammers Meeting (Live on television). LP = League Position.

APRIL 2004

03rd Reading (a). 0-2. LP:4th.
If the anticipated volleys of hate aimed Pardew's way were less than ferocious, they were more than matched by the lack of heart, passion and desire shown by the West Ham team. If he had instilled any of the necessary qualities required for a stiff upper lip and resolve in what, for him, was a match he was desperate his players to ensure they stood up and be counted in, they were - on the evidence they presented on the pitch - soon forgotten. Whilst he stayed firmly on his feet throughout, with his head well above the parapit, his players ducked out of their responsibilities, surrendering meekly to a team who did not exactly have to raise their game to the level either he, the fans, or they had the right to expect. from OTT Website.

10th Derby County (h) 0-0.
"West Ham are offering free admission to watch training at Upton Park this week. It will probably be more entertaining than this leaden match under leaden skies that served only to offer Derby a useful point. It would have been three had not a linesman wrongly disallowed them a goal in added time" The Independent.

12th Crystal Palace (a). 0-1.
"Given how poor the refereeing was, it was something of a surprise that Connolly was the only player to get the red card, because he could easily have been joined by Repka (persistant fouling), Harewood (rowing as the teams went off at half-time), Srnicek (for tripping Johnson up) and Zamora (for a blatant elbow)", "Neither side was capable of holding on to the ball during a poor first half, the Hammers probably not helped by Pardew's decision to chop and change the team as much as he did, but overall, given how rudderless they looked at Selhurst Park, it is hard to argue that even with what amounts to their strongest team they'd have got anything from the game" from OTT Website.

17th Coventry City (h). 2-0. (zamora. connolly). LP:6th
"It was not until late in the match that the points were finally secured for West Ham, they could not build upon Bobby Zamora's first half opener, and it took a penalty - converted by David Connolly - to ease their obvious edginess. With the experienced duo of Steve Lomas and Kevin Horlock in the middle of the park, David Connolly putting every ounce of effrot in, and Hayden Mullins in good form, the Sky Blues just could not get a foot hold in proceedings" to come.

24th Stoke City (a). 2-0. (connolly, harewood).
A David Connolly goal put the Hammers in front before half-time at the Britannia Stadium, and Marlon Harewood doubled the lead in the second half", "Harewood scored on the hour mark, rounding off a superb move which began when Zamora played a one-two with Connolly, before setting Etherington off down the wing; his excellent far post cross was nodded in by Harewood". from OTT Website.

MAY 2004

01st Watford (h). 4-0. (hutchinson, dailly, harewood 2). LP:3rd.
"Hutchison was nothing if not fired up in the opening 20 minutes - notably when his powerful surge with the ball towards the Watford box led to Gavin Mahon bringing him down and Hutchison scoring from the free-kick. It was his first goal since October and only his third of the season. With the Scotland international continuing to cause Watford problems, a goal from Christian Dailly and two from Marlon Harewood made things even worse for them" from The Observer.

09th Wigan (a). 1-1. (deane). LP:4th.
"The Hammers were knocked out of their stride by the sheer energy of Wigan's start, but weathered the storm, and not until Alan Pardew brought on David Connolly for Don Hutchison on fifty five minutes did they begin to show any real threat. Marlon Harewood had a goal bound header cleared off the line, as the home side began to show a few nerves, and perhaps sensing this, Hammers' boss threw on the experienced Brian Deane". "There were less than two minutes of the ninety remaining when Nigel Reo-Coker won what looked a dubious free-kick some twenty-five yards out, and when the ball was swung into the penalty area, up popped Deane to deliver a knockout blow to Wigan's season, and prolong the Hammers" from OTT Website.

15th Ipswich Town (a). PLAY-OFF SEMI 1st LEG. 0-1.
"A single goal from Ipswich forward Darren Bent put a dent in promotion hopes as West Ham failed to turn a number of chances into goals at Portman Road this afternoon. An open game that promised goals but produced few thanks to wasteful finishing", "The first half produced much for both sides, Zamora going closest for the Hammers, firing a shot from the 18 yard line just wide of the post, and then dragging a chance wide of the far upright when inside the area. Despite the nervous excitement, Zamora’s frustration summed up the performance", "A rifled shot from Naylor rattled the cross bar and boomeranged straight at Repka. Tomas froze, the ball spun in the area, and Bent headed into the empty net. West Ham urged themselves forward, but as frustration took hold first touches became clumsy and final balls ended up at opposition feet". from KUMB Website.

18th Ipswich Town (h). PLAY-OFF SEMI 2nd LEG. 2-0. (etherington, dailly).
"We went for it right from the very start", "Repka rescued a loose ball down the right and crossed from the byline, finding Connolly in the box. Connolly turned and clipped a cross into the path of Zamora, whose header brought out one of the saves of the season from Davies in the Ipswich goal. Fabulous football all round – and only 11 minutes gone!", "Although it was a half we largely dominated there was a slight scare on 25 minutes gone when Bent drove the ball against a brave Dailly block. The ball struck Dailly's arm but the half-hearted penalty appeal was rightly rejected", "The second half began with a similar tempo to the first – no mean feat on such a warm night. What happened next is something nobody who was lucky enough to be there will forget for as long as they live. Carrick took a short corner to Etherington who rode the challenge from a defender before launching a piledriver into the far corner to send the crowd wild.", "With 20 minutes left a bywater clearance found Connolly whose turn was superb. The resulting shot clipped off a defender for a corner. Etherington's delivery was played by a defender straight into Dailly's wedding tackle. The skipper stayed on his feet long enough to poke the loose ball (no pun intended!) into the bottom right hand corner to cue more wild celebrations", "On 90 minutes it was heart in mouth time. A long throw from the right came out to Westlake whose shot came back off the post. We had to endure three minutes of stoppage time", "Ipswich forced a couple of corners before the ref finally blew the whistle to cue Bubbles, Twist & Shout, Viva Bobby Moore, Knees Up Mother Brown. The sight of everyone doing the Twist & Shout was something to behold". from KUMB Website.

29th Crystal Palace (Cardiff). PLAY-OFF FINAL. 0.1.
"Many questions were being asked beforehand about which West Ham would turn up - would it be the side that disappointed so at Portman Road in the first leg - or the side which offered a hugely impressive performance in the return leg, in the game which sent West Ham through to today's final", "Zamora could have converted a one after he was sent clear on goal thanks to a fabulous pass from Michael Carrick, who was surely playing his last game in claret and blue. However Zamora crashed his shot against the keeper", "Not unexpectedly Palace took the lead after Stephen Bywater failed to divert a Johnson shot, and Neil Shipperley ghosted in between three static defenders to clinch the goal", "Almost immediately the Hammers had the ball in the net when David Connolly chipped the advacing keeper, but it was (rightly) ruled offside. Minutes later West Ham thought again that they had produced the equaliser when Zamora stabbed home from close range. However the linesman had decided that the former Brighton man was offside; it looked marginal at the time", "Graham Poll firmly lodged himself alongside the likes of Keith Hackett in the annals of 'Most Hated Referees' by denying a cast iron penalty for a foul on Michael Carrick with just minutes remaining. So blatant was the foul that even the watching Hammers fans were stunned into near silence by Poll's refusal to award a spot kick. To be denied such an obvious penalty with so much at stake was the cruelest blow. Poll's grin afforded to any appealing Hammer particularly rankled. Bearing in mind this referee's previous history with West Ham questions should be asked as to how he was awarded the task of officiating in the club's most important game in a generation". from KUMB Website.

West Ham United Goalscorers 2003-2004

14 x Jermain Defoe. Carling Cup = 4. Sold to Tottenham, 2.2.04.
14 x David Connolly. Carling Cup = 2. FA Cup = 2.
14 x Marlon Harewood. FA Cup = 1.
7 x Brian Deane. FA Cup = 1.
6 x Matthew Etherington.
5 x Bobby Zamora.
3 x Don Hutchinson.
3 x Christian Dailly.
2 x Neil Mellor.
2 x Nigel Reo-Coker.
1 x Jobi McAnuff.
1 x Kevin Horlock.
1 x Hayden Mullins. FA Cup = 1.
1 x Jon Harley.
1 x Christian Dailly.
1 x Michael Carrick.
1 x Ian Pearce. Sold to Fulham, 16.1.04.
2 x Own Goals.

...And so another season comes to a close. A transitional season, where the team that got us underway back in august was not the team that played in the play-off final, except of course for that pairing of repka and daily at the back. If you ask me, those two should have have been first out the door! Carrick being the only quality player not to turn rat and jump ship! But you know it's coming. One thing is for sure during the season some damning articles about the clubs chairman, Mr T. Brown have shown him to be devoid of any ambition, sell, sell sell. And if we ever manage to get another crop of talented youngsters, you can be sure he'll off-load them at the earliest opportunity! The jury is out on Pardew at present, when his team get it together, I admit we look good, but for me we always lacked an edge when it came to the crunch games (ipswich at home apart). Moaning over... lets hope we do not have to bother with the nightmare of the play-offs next season... Champions would be nice! Come on you Irons!
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