Freddie Kanoute breathed fresh life into West Ham's Barclaycard Premiership
survival fight by grabbing a priceless winner over Manchester City.
Anchored five points adrift in the drop zone and with their manager still in
hospital, the situation could barely have looked any less promising for the
Hammers.
But, like a knight in shining armour, Upton Park legend Trevor Brooking has
come riding to the rescue.
Over 90 tension-wracked minutes, Brooking had the reasons why he never wanted
to become a manager rammed forcefully home.
However, with the agony - literally in Les Ferdinand's case as the veteran
front-man was stretchered off with a suspected broken leg which, at 36 could
bring the end of his career - also came ecstasy.
The visitors had to wait until the 80th minute for salvation and, not
surprisingly, Joe Cole instigated it, catching the City defence asleep as he
whipped in a cross from the left.
Peter Schmeichel performed heroics to keep Ferdinand's replacement Don
Hutchison from turning his first effort home. The Scottish international stabbed
the rebound against the post and, as it agonisingly rolled along the goal-line,
Kanoute was on hand to force it over the line.
With two games remaining, the Hammers are now a couple of points behind Bolton
and three adrift of Leeds, with Fulham and Aston Villa one ahead of them.
Brooking, who gave lie to his calm image with some frantic arm-waving on the
touchline, could yet become the best three-game manager there has ever been.
Sticking to the old adage 'never change a winning side', Brooking opted for
the starting line-up which had overcome Middlesbrough on Easter Monday and then
took his place in the dug-out and hoped.
Depressingly for the visiting supporters, the game took on an all-too-familiar
pattern as their team's ability to forage forward and create chances was
undermined by a lack of drive in central midfield and a series of crass
defensive mistakes which somehow went unpunished.
If he was watching from his hospital bed, Glen Roeder would at least have been
gratified that Brooking could do no better than he has during the last nine
months of strife.
The most glaring blunder came from James, who managed to miss a long ball from
Ali Benarbia completely, which allowed Nicolas Anelka to charge through. The
angle was too great for the Frenchman, who instead pulled a cross back for
Robbie Fowler and Ian Pearce was forced to make one of many last-ditch
interventions.
Rufus Brevett headed that particular list, though, and Fowler will rarely come
closer to scoring without actually doing so than he did 15 minutes into the
game.
David James could not be blamed for spilling Anelka's vicious curling strike
and when the ball landed at his feet, Fowler was on hand to bundle the ball
through the goalkeepers' legs.
With pure strikers' instinct, the former Liverpool forward flung himself
head-first at the ball, which had trickled onto the goal-line. The merest
connection would have resulted in the opening goal. Instead Fowler got a kick in
the head for his pains as Brevett flew it to hack clear.
Shaun Wright-Phillips and Ali Benarbia also tried their luck at various
intervals as James continued to look unconvincing.
Despite the energy of Jermain Defoe and Cole, Ferdinand was the most likely
visitor to find the net.
Unhappily though, the veteran forward only has a trio of misses to look back
on as he faces the prospect of an end to his illustrious career after a clash
with Peter Schmeichel as goalkeeper and striker raced to claim a throughball at
the start of the second half.
Were it not for West Ham's situation, the game would almost have been devoid
of interest as City continued to push unconvincingly forward and the visitors
struggled to create anything on the break.
The sight of Brooking pacing anxiously up the touchline emphasised the
seriousness of the situation though, even if his team could not seem to summon
up the spirit to do anything about it.
It took the loss of Ferdinand and the introduction of Hutchison to rouse them
into life and once they had gained the ascendancy, even the introduction of
Shaun Goater could not claw them back.
Brooking's boys might still be favourites for the drop, but Bolton and Leeds
are starting to sweat badly again.
Teams:
Man City: Schmeichel, Dunne, Jensen (Goater 87), Distin,
Sommeil, Foe, Barton, Benarbia (Belmadi 71), Wright-Phillips,
Fowler (Macken 71), Anelka.
Subs Not Used: Nash, Bischoff.
Booked: Sommeil.
West Ham: James, Johnson, Pearce (Dailly 85), Repka, Brevett,
Sinclair, Cole, Lomas, Cisse (Kanoute 45),
Les Ferdinand (Hutchison 54), Defoe.
Subs Not Used: Van Der Gouw, Garcia.
Booked: Defoe.
Goals: Kanoute 81.
Att: 34,815
Ref: R Styles (Hampshire).
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