West Ham United 2-0 Birmingham City: Goals from Alessandro Diamanti and Carlton Cole lift Hammers out of danger

Two goals from Alessandro Diamanti and Carlton Cole gave West Ham United a vital three points against Birmingham City at Upton Park which with results elsewhere, lifted the Hammers out of the relegation zone.

The subtexts for this game were numerous; West Ham teetering on the brink of financial collapse, with owner David Sullivan stating that the club would face “Armageddon” if they were relegated this season.  In addition it was the first time the Sullivan/Gold backed West Ham faced their former club Birmingham, and with the latter wishing the Hammers “give them a good whacking.” It had all the pre match hype to be hoped for.

Blues manager Alex McLeish publically declared his team talk was prepared for him with those words, and he was relishing the chance to cook up humble pie for his former employers to dine upon.

West Ham made the best of the opening exchanges with their first attempt on goal after seven minutes, a header from new arrival Mido which didn’t test Joe Hart in the Birmingham goal. 

The Hammers continued with a good passage of play with shots from James Tomkins and Mido again keeping Hart on his toes.

Birmingham’s first real chance of a goal came courtesy of Cameron Jerome, who’s shot tested England keeper Robert Green.

As the first period progressed West Ham looked the most likely to score first which belied their precarious position in the relegation zone but the Blues defence remained resolute with Roger Johnson leading by example.

The best spell of the first half for Birmingham was just before the break with an attempt from veteran Kevin Phillips being the pick of the crop but not after Lee Bowyer and Scott Dann had been booked for unsporting conduct.

That ebb and flow was stopped dead with the opening goal, coming from a wickedly curling free kick from Alessandro Diamanti which rose over the wall and into the top right hand corner of Hart’s net.  And with that, the referee blew for the end of the half.

West Ham came out in the second half still in control, particularly at the back, as they forced Cameron Jerome to take up a deeper position to try and make himself a more viable attacking option.  This, coupled with Birmingham’s long ball style, had left Phillips isolated from the midfield and unable to threaten the West Ham goal with any real menace.  

After an hour both managers decided to shuffle their respective packs to try to find a potential decisive goal with substitutions, a tiring Mido was replaced by Araujo Ilan for West Ham and James McFadden came on for Keith Fahey.

That move from Gianfranco Zola was the pivotal moment of the game for West Ham as it breathed new life and vigour into the Hammers.  Carlton Cole, who’s worth to Zola grows with every game that passes, got onto a Julien Faubert cross to put United up by two and the relief at Upton Park was palpable.

The crucial moment for Birmingham had yet to come until Matthew Upson appeared to handle the ball but referee Mike Dean was not convinced and played on.  No doubt McLeish would have been fuming with that call.

As the game progressed to it's conclusion, West Ham were more and more in control, the whacking called for by David Gold was not the final outcome, three points will ultimately be the bigger prize.