A Mark Noble penalty on the stroke of half time was enough to earn West Ham a morale-boosting win against Espanyol in Spain tonight.
With so few players involved in international duty this week, Sam Allardyce took the bulk of his first team squad to Spain for tonight's friendly.And he will have been delighted to see his team respond positively to last weekend's dismal defeat against Stoke with a strong performance.
Whereas West Ham failed to muster a single shot on target against the Potters at the Boleyn Ground, shots on goal rained down on Espanyol 'keeper German tonight - even if Noble's spot kick was the only one to find the back of the net.
At the core of much of West Ham's forward play was youngster Ravel Morrison, who once again produced the sort of performance that's beginning to give Allardyce something of a selection headache.
One particular run in the first half, during which he weaved his way past five opponents before his shot was smothered by the 'keeper had shades of Diego Maradona's wonder goal against Belgium in 1986.
Morrison was ably assisted in the final third by Matt Jarvis, who delivered a series of testing crosses from the left and also won the 43rd minute match-winning penalty when his low centre was handled by defender Abraham.
As has been the case all season, the Hammers were resolute in defence with James Tomkins marshalling the back four superbly. Only once did the home side genuinely threaten to breach United's rearguard, when Lanza's dipping, curling 26th free-kick rattled Adrian's left-hand post.
Allardyce now has nine days to prepare his squad for the trip to St Mary's where they will do battle with Southampton. However the news on Andy Carroll, who it was hoped would return for the game is not good, with some reports claiming he'll be out of action until October.
* Something to say about this story? Please visit the KUMB Forum to leave a comment.
