Man Utd 1 West Ham Utd 0

  • by Staff Writer
  • Wednesday, 28th November 2012

West Ham United managed to keep a clean sheet for 92 minutes at Old Trafford tonight - yet still came away with nothing.

Robin Van Persie's effort after just 31 seconds - the fastest goal scored in the Premier League so far this season - was enough to win all three points for the home side and condemn the Hammers to consecutive league defeats for the first time in 2012/13.

With much of Old Trafford's 75,00-odd crowd yet to settle into their seats, tonight's hosts scored the only goal of a tightly-fought contest with a total fluke.

The former Arsenal man received the ball on the edge of the box and aimed to his left - before a huge deflection off James Collins changed the path of the ball which looped over Jussi Jaaskelainen into the back of the net.

However early fears of a potential cricket score failed to materialise and if anything, West Ham enjoyed the better chances for the remainder of the first half.

The best two opportunities of the opening 45 minutes fell to Kevin Nolan - whose 11th minute flick found the side netting - and Andy Carroll, who pounced on a deflection from Johnny Evans to fire inches over on the volley just ahead of the half-hour mark.

The home side, who went into the game top of the Premier League had plenty of possession - as is to be expected - but 'keeper Jaaskelainen was only stretched on one occasion, that being when Javier Hernández's 29th minute strike required a tip round the post.

Having recovered fully from that early setback, West Ham started the second period with intent and had their hosts on the backfoot until Man U created four chances within the space of five minutes.

A Rooney shot that was high and wide was followed by a free kick from the edge of the area that Jaaskelainen dealt with comfortably. Another Rooney effort - this one curled towards the far post - required a good save from the Finnish stopper and finally, a chance from a corner required the intervention of captain Kevin Nolan on the line.

That was as good as it got for the home side in the second half, whilst West Ham continued to enjoy lots of possession without ever really seriously threatening their opponent's goal - much to the annoyance of an expectant home crowd whose chants of "attack, attack, attack" fell upon deaf ears.

Indeed, if anyone was likely to score in the final third of the game it was Sam Allardyce's side who had three great chances to take what would have been a deserved point from the game.

With 20 minutes left on the clock Matt Taylor miscued horribly after some good work from substitute Carlton Cole, who had replaced the ineffective Carroll on the hour mark (no doubt with view to Saturday's early kick off against Chelsea).

Ten minutes later a free kick found Winston Reid in the box and his downward header was thrashed towards goal by Cole, but blocked. Then with just four minutes of normal time remaining fellow sub Modibo Maiga - who had replaced the disappointing Matt Jarvis - cut inside leaving Johnny Evans for dead, but his dipping drive was just too high.

Unusually at Old Trafford it was Manchester United who were forced to time-waste for the three added-on minutes, which ran over by just two seconds; no 'Ferguson-time' tonight unfortunately.

So whilst United suffered their customary defeat at Old Trafford, it was a far better performance than in recent seasons. However Allardyce and his squad will no doubt feel slightly disappointed to return south with nothing to show for their efforts.

* View highlights from the match here.

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