On Thursday night, Sam Allardyce’s boys replicated their fantastic away form when it really mattered, making a tough looking home 2nd leg appear a little smoother task to overcome.
After a initial worrying 6 or 7 early minutes when Cardiff City missed a couple of decent chances with Robert Green making a fantastic save from Kenny Miller, West Ham gained a controlling foot-hold in the game, quietening the Welsh crowd and catching them time after time on the counter attack.
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The approach paid off in dividends when Ricardo Vaz Te beat the offside trap to pull the ball back to in-form Jack Collison, who had his initial headed effort saved by Marshall but thankfully managed to bundle the ball back into the net at the second attempt.
Chances continued for the Cockney boys as James Tomkins had a free header at the back post go just wide. Turning defence into attack in a matter of moments seemed to be the order of the day when Turner put in a great tackle to halt Carlton Cole on his way to goal, moments after Mark Hudson lost possession in the middle of the park.
From the following corner, defender Turner cleared only to man-of-the moment Collision, who rifled in a dangerous looking shot, only for a major Liam Lawrence deflection to see the effort completely wrong-foot Marshall to see Big Sam’s boys into a very healthy lead to take back to Upton Park for the second leg.
In the second half, the predicted kitchen sink throwing from the Welsh side never really occurred but Turner saw a looping header cleared off the line by Carlton Cole and Rob Earnshaw fired a volley high and wide.
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Carlton Cole himself delivered a tireless performance in a lone striker role that kept all Cardiff’s centre backs on their toes throughout the second half. Mark Noble put in tackle after tackle, whilst on both flanks Ricardo Vaz Te and Jack Collison looked serious threats on every counter attack, particularly when Matty Taylor would also make surging supporting runs to exploit more spaces.
These are gaps West Ham may well have found it hard to find at Upton Park if Cardiff had the luxury of being able to hold onto a hypothetical lead at Upton Park. As it now stands, the Welsh club have at attack to score two goals just to take the tie to extra time. This may well suit Big Sam’s boys, with the team being able to pick them off on any fast-paced counter attacks they wish. Similar examples may be recalled when Blackpool and Brighton, two attacking passing sides, came to Upton Park in the search for goals, only to concede four and six goals respectively, our two most memorable home performances of the season.
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The defence must be as resolute as they were on Thursday, whilst Rob Green may well be required to pull off a few cracking saves on Monday. However, if the attacking midfielders and forward players put in the same sort of shift, our first ever visit to the new Wembley should be a realistic prospect on Saturday May the 19th.
COYI
