West Ham (h) Premiership
| Date: Saturday 31st October 1998, 3pm Venue: St. James' Park Conditions: tbc |
|
|
Newcastle |
West Ham |
|
|
0 - 3 |
|
| Half time: | 0 - 0 | |
| Score Sheet: | ||
Wright
(56)  Sinclair (76) Wright (90) |
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Teams |
||
|
Given Charvet Griffin Pearce Dabizas Solano Speed Batty Glass Dalglish Shearer |
Hislop Pearce Ferdinand Ruddock Impey Keller Lampard Lomas Sinclair Kitson Wright |
|
| Substitutes: | ||
|
(49) Pistone for Glass |
Potts for Impey (72) Hartson for Kitson (82) |
|
| Subs not used: | ||
|
Barton Harper |
Berkovic Moncur Sealey |
|
| Bookings: | ||
| None |
Ruddock
 Sinclair Potts |
|
| Dismissals: | ||
(47) Pearce |
None | |
|
Referee: Graham
Poll |
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|
Attendance:
36,744 |
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Goals |
Half time: Newcastle 0 West Ham 0
56 mins:
Laurent Charvet was unable to
contain Ian Wright's surge towards goal and his right footed shot flew
past Shay Given 0-1
76 mins: A second followed
when Trevor Sinclair swapped passes with Paul Kitson in the box before
coolly slotting a right-footed shot past Given 0-2
90 mins: More defensive disharmony allowed Wright to claim
his second of the game
0-3
Full time: Newcastle 0 West
Ham 3
We Said |
Ruud Gullit said:
To
follow
They Said |
Harry
Redknapp:
To follow
Stats |
|
Superb wasn't the first word that sprang to our
minds..... |
Waffle |
Independent match
report: There was a goal disallowed, a penalty appeal turned down
and a player sent off, and yet the few but forceful chants of "what a load
of rubbish" that echoed round a rapidly-emptying St James' Park on the
final whistle were not solely aimed at referee Graham Poll. Of his three
contentious decisions, only denying Paul Dalglish a penalty was seriously
questionable. And Gullit wilfully overlooks that as well as conceding
three goals through reluctant, reprehensible defending. Newcastle three times
were forced to clear desperately, and in the case of Alessandro Pistone quite
brilliantly as he denied Ian Wright a hat-trick. Plus Shay Given was twice
extended - in the case of Wright's 30th minute drive, again quite brilliantly. Yet perhaps Gullit did have a few reasons to be cheerful.
Dalglish did not content himself with picking up the scraps from Shearer's
table - a table increasingly bare after a sixth successive barren match and a
performance that gave Rio Ferdinand few headaches. Dalglish dropped deep
foraging for the ball, and looked lively and inventive - a couple of his
touches too inventive for David Batty. And so the spoils to Wright and Redknapp. Full of praise
for Wright, who is 35 tomorrow, the manager too deserves credit. He had swapped
Paul Kitson for John Hartson and left Julian Dicks at home. "I changed the
system and that meant sacrificing Eyal Berkovic. I played 4-4-2 and defined
everybody's roles within that and they all did their jobs," said Redknapp.
Ruud Gullit was remarkably chirpy after Newcastle had suffered what, in
black and white at least, looks a devastating defeat.
"I am very happy with the performance," he said with a big grin.
"I told the players that they played an excellent game and 3-0 is not a
fair reflection of that. We weren't beaten by a better side, but by the
decisions of the referee."
As Harry Redknapp diplomatically said: "There was definitely a push from
Alan Shearer as he scored the `goal' and, although I am a big fan of Stuart
Pearce, I thought he did catch Trevor Sinclair."
As it was with a head- high elbow at some pace from behind, Mr Poll probably
felt he had no alternative.