Lukey Malden was our ‘man with the cam from West Ham‘ as he took the trip from the capital up to West Bromwich fwith the ‘ammers as they took on the Baggies on their own turf, hoping for brighter things after a relatively feeble start to the 2017-18 EPL season.
After consecutive losses at Manchester United, Southampton and Newcastle (West Ham being forced to open their EPL campaign away from home as their new home – London Stadium – was being re-configured following the World Athletics Championship) the ‘ammers had just secured their first points of the season, beating unlikely EPL newcomers Huddersfield Town 2-0 in West Ham’s first home fixture these season.
Despite Albion’s mullering of the ‘ammers last term (4-2) Lukey and his lager-quoffing buddies seemed confident that their men would progress onwards from their Huddersfield success and hammer West Brom easily. The lone West Brom fan Lukey interviewed was just as confident, but that Tony Pulis and his team would roll over Slaven Bilic’s squad, sticking three goals past England ‘keeper Joe Hart in the process.
Any enthusiasm (more for beer and chanting than the actual football) before the game, buoyed by the surprise appearance of West Ham legend ‘Fat’ Frank Lampard, seemed to have evaporated by half-time, as two defensively-nervous teams hadn’t delivered the expected goal-bloated classic. Most West Ham fans had lost their confidence in a positive result, and instead seemed resigned that they’d be lucky to escape with a point.
As it turned out, that’s exactly what the West Ham boys took back to London Stadium, as the game finished goalless. In the usual post-mortem, most fans suggested that manager Bilic had not yet found the best way to get the most out of Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez, the ex-Manchester United striker who’d been signed in the summer from Bayer Leverkusen for around £16 million. Supporters also bemoaned the lack of creativity of the boys in the claret and blue.
The trip back ‘down sarf’ was certainly more sombre than the trip up, but no doubt for West Ham’s next away day at Burnley’s Turf Moor, Lukey and his chums will be doing it all over again.’
