Coca Cola Championship
Cardiff City 4 West Ham United 1

Tuesday, 2nd November 2004
by Matthew O'Greel

West Ham suffered a humiliating defeat against lowly Cardiff at Ninian Park tonight, going down 4-1.

Alan Pardew's side will find it difficult to make excuses for their worst performance of the season by far against a side who went in to tonight's match without a win in their last five games.

Alan Lee started the rout after just three minutes, before Joe Ledley doubled the lead on 16 - giving the home side a comfortable 2-0 lead at the break.

Paul Parry added a third for Cardiff nine minutes into the second half, before Marlon Harewood briefly gave hopes of a Hammers comeback on 69 minutes from the penalty spot.

But that hope was short-lived as former Hammer Jobi McAnuff rubbed salt into the wounds with a fourth, 13 minutes from time.

Worst of all was the nature of the defeat; Pardew's side failed to match a team who, on paper, shouldn't have proved too difficult a test.

But as is often the case Cardiff - who up until tonight had scored just four times at home in the league - upset the form books and fully deserved their victory.

An angry Alan Pardew blasted his side after the game, saying:

"If you give a team a two-goal start - and we gifted them two goals - it will be an uphill struggle.

"This is always a tough fixture, but we didn't expect this sort of result.

"We had chances to get back in the first half but didn't take them and we have been convincingly beaten."

No doubt Saturday's home fixture against QPR can't come soon enough for Pardew and his team, as they look forward to their fourth match in 10 days.

(Player ratings by Reading Iron)

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Player Ratings

Stephen Bywater
Not a lot to do but pick the ball out of the net. Made a couple of decent saves.


Hayden Mullins
Not a right back, spent too much time on his arse ... again.


Rufus Brevett
Not a good night for Rufus, his former team-mate McAnuff took the p*ss all night.


Tomas Repka
His worst performance this season.


Calum Davenport
The only one who visibly tried.


Steve Lomas
A poor performance, every time he got the ball he passed backwards or sideways.


Luke Chadwick
Useless. Just doesn't look like a footballer. Couldn't deliver a pizza, let alone a cross.


Carl Fletcher
Didn't look comfortable, missed Reo-Coker.


Matthew Etherington
Didn't see much of the ball, and when he did he more often than not gave it away.


Bobby Zamora
Couldn't trap a bag of cement; his first touch was awful ... again.


Marlon Harewood
Had a couple of long range efforts, not his worst performance. No service.



Substitutes

Don Hutchison
(Replaced Chadwick, 52) Looked like a player with his mind elsewhere.


Chris Powell
(Replaced Brevett, 73) Not much to do, the game was all but lost by the time he came on.


Sergei Rebrov
(Replaced Mullins, 73)


Jimmy Walker
Did not play.


Anton Ferdinand
Did not play.



Match Facts

West Ham United: Stephen Bywater, Hayden Mullins, Rufus Brevett, Tomas Repka, Calum Davenport, Steve Lomas, Luke Chadwick, Carl Fletcher, Matthew Etherington, Bobby Zamora, Marlon Harewood.

Goals: Marlon Harewood 69                  .

Booked: None booked.           .

Sent Off: None sent off.     .

Cardiff City: Warner, Williams, Gabbidon, Collins, Barker, McAnuff, O'Neil, Kavanagh, Ledley, Lee, Parry.

Subs not used: Weston, Bullock, Alexander.

Goals: Lee (3), Ledley (16), Parry (54), McAnuff (77).

Booked: None booked..

Sent off: None.

Referee: R.Beeby.

Attendance: 14,222.

Man of the Match: Calum Davenport.