Carroll Inspires Narrow West Ham Victory

Sunderland's winless run extended to six games in the Premier League this evening as they lost 2-1 to a dogged West Ham United. 

The hammers scored early in both halves through Andy Carroll and Mohamed Diame before a superb consolation from substitute Adam Johnson.

The game started slowly with Sunderland predominantly on top before Andy Carroll scored the game's opening goal, the big striker capitalizing on an excellent delivery from a Mark Noble corner to aim a powerful header at goal from close-range. Mannone got a hand to it but the power of the ex-Newcastle man's header proved too much.

Lee Cattermole had a chance to equalise just moments later, finding plenty of space at the far post after a cross from Ki but firing a tame left-footed shot towards the feet of Adrian. Sunderland should certainly have had a penalty towards the end of the first half as Kevin Nolan clearly connected with the ball using his elbow, however referee Howard Webb missed the incident.

The Black Cats emerged after the break exactly as they had ended it, on the attack. An early Borini cross flashed across the face of goal with no one at the far post to tap in.

Against the run of play West Ham managed to double their advantage, a long ball pumped forward towards Andy Carroll who turned from goalscorer to provider. The ball fell into the path of Diame whose first time shot took a deflection as it rolled into the bottom corner.

Once again Sunderland quickly retaliated, a cross-field ball miss-controlled by Phil Bardsley as he ran through on goal. Moments later a first time volley from around 20 yards out flew narrowly wide of the far post. A mix up between Adrian and Carroll from a corner nearly resulted in a comedy own-goal but the Spaniard was quick to jump on the loose ball.

Sunderland's relentless pressure continued as Fabio Borini slammed a left-footed drive into the side-netting.
Stewart Downing could have put the game beyond reach just before the hour mark as he had a one-on-one fantastically saved low to Vito Mannone's right hand side.

Eventually Sunderland's pressing play paid off as just after the hour mark Adam Johnson scored a marvellous curling effort from the edge of the box, placing the ball far out of Adrian's reach to claw back one goal. Suddenly Sunderland were in full flow, a testing drive from  Ki not held by Adrian who just managed to recover to make a superb second save from Connor Wickham.

West Ham dropped deeper and deeper as the game approached the closing minutes, Matty Taylor forced to concede a corner following a dangerous floating ball from Adam Johnson. Johnson then found Marcos Alonso from the resulting corner, the wing-ball drilling his shot over the bar.

Mannone found himself spending more of stoppage time in the West Ham penalty area than his own as Sunderland had a host of corners deep into the game. Adam Johnson had one final chance in the dying seconds, however the West Ham defensive line held firm as they recorded their second consecutive victory after the weekends 2-1 victory against Hull.

Victory for Sam Allardyce's men sees them remain in 11th as they move onto 37 points, eleven points above the relegation zone and all-but safe with six games remaining. Defeat for the Black Cats leaves Gus Poyet's team four points adrift of safety and staring at Championship football next season.

Sports Ladder (12th-18th August)

A new weekly blog I intend to do as often as possible. The point of the blog will be to revisit the weeks top stories and see who has gone up and down in the opinion of the public. I shall try to incorporate as many sports as possible and do it every week but this shall not always be possible (For instance, next weekend I shall be at Reading Festival so I will not be able to write one). ENJOY!


UP - Mo Farah - What a week for the British athlete. Completing the Double-Double (5,000 and 10,000 metre Olympic and World titles) and being described as Britain's greatest ever athlete by Brendan Foster, Farah can relax and spend time with his ever-supportive wife and children. Watch out for Farah vs Murray at this years Sports Personality of the Year.

UP - England Cricket Team - England had already retained the Ashes but this week they won it. Outstanding bowling from Stuart Broad, gaining himself eleven wickets in the fourth test, was the main reason for the victory. Now Cook and the boys will be looking to win the fifth and final test and claim a 4-0 Test victory.

UP - Rickie Lambert - The week of his life. Not only did he score a 90th minute winner for Southampton yesterday, he also scored with his first touch on his England debut midweek. He described it as a 'dream come true' and will be looking to retain his place in the England team. The 'rags-to-riches' striker gained a lot of public support this week.

UP - Barclays Premier League - After the relentless tedium of the Bale/Suarez/Rooney transfer sagas over the last month or so, the Premier League finally regained my attention on the opening weekend. A weekend full of penalties, debut goals and a few upsets has certainly reminded us why the Premier League is the greatest League in the world.

UP - Anna Nordqvist - As Europe head towards their first Solheim Cup victory on American soil, a special mention must go to Anna Nordqvist. On the par three 17th, Nordqvist scored the first ever Solheim Cup hole-in-one to win the four ball 2&1 and give Europe momentum on a fantastic Saturday. They go into the final singles day on 10 and a half points to America's 5 and a half.


DOWN - Marion Bartoli - Only 40 days after winning her maiden Wimbledon title, Bartoli announced a shock retirement, claiming that physical pain was the reason for her decision. After troubles with the French Tennis National body over the last few years it will be a shame to lose Bartoli's unorthodox style from the sport.

DOWN - Lee Westwood - After finishing way off the pace at the PGA last weekend, Westwood went on a rather embarrassing tipsy outburst on twitter, attacking 'girly boy trolls'. A rather sad way to end what has been a relatively successful year. Come on Lee, you don't need to get sucked in by the twitter trolls, you are an excellent golfer and your time will come.

DOWN - Farnborough FC - I couldn't ignore my local team Farnborough FC. This week they took part in the most bizarre sponsorship deal I have ever seen, with all the players and managers changing their names, by deed poll, to that of a famous player. What a lesson in why not to let your club go into administration. Farnborough FC are now a national joke club.

DOWN - Arsene Wenger - Oh Arsene, don't make promises you can't keep. Despite promising to spend big this summer, he has spent less than I did in Tesco's earlier today and paid the price with a 3-1 defeat to Aston Villa yesterday. With fans restless and Wenger into the last year of his contract, are we seeing the end of Arsene's Arsenal?

DOWN - Yelena Isinbayeva - Russia's athletics sweetheart dropped considerably in the opinions of many Britons  this week after her verbal disapproval with other athletes protest against new 'anti-gay' laws in Russia. Despite saying she was misunderstood she has not apologised for her remarks and her inspirational role-model status may be dropping with many Global fans.