Hammers' Mullins holds off Doyle.
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West Ham re-ignited their play-off ambitions as Bobby Zamora's sixth goal of
the season and a David Connolly penalty fired them back into the top six.
The Hammers turned in an impressive performance and fully deserved their goals
either side of the break.
And with fellow promotion-hopefuls Sheffield United and Millwall both losing
ground, the win was enough to keep their hopes alive of an immediate return to
the Premiership.
West Ham were without key midfielders Michael Carrick and Matthew Etherington
after they failed to recover from hamstring and groin injuries respectively.
Tomas Repka was also absent as he started a three-match ban, meaning Hayden
Mullins was drafted into a defensive role.
Coventry were boosted by the inclusion of Mo Konjic, who played despite a
niggling hamstring problem while midfielder Youssef Safri made his first-team
comeback after undergoing hernia surgery.
The Moroccan was playing for the first time since February and he was
immediately involved with a curling free-kick from the right after just a few
seconds that forced goalkeeper Stephen Bywater to punch clear.
The Sky Blues had started brightly and, five minutes later, Calum Davenport
headed close before Gary McSheffrey blasted a shot from distance over the
crossbar.
But it was by no means one-way traffic. In between, Andy Melville fizzed a
shot for the Hammers past the post after Kevin Horlock had teed him up.
On 18 minutes, Steve Lomas tested visiting goalkeeper Scott Shearer for the
first time with a 25-yard effort that had the shot-stopper scrambling across his
line.
Then the same player tried his luck again soon after, forcing Davenport to
hack the ball away.
Gradually, West Ham began to up the pace with Zamora and Anton Ferdinand both
testing Shearer.
And eight minutes before the interval, the hosts got the breakthrough their
pressure deserved as Zamora struck.
When Coventry failed to deal with a corner, Horlock headed the ball back into
the box and, after recovering from a poor first touch, Zamora took the ball wide
of the goalkeeper before slotting home.
Having made the breakthrough, the hosts piled forward and picked up where they
had left off after the restart when Horlock drilled at goal.
Then Connolly tried a spectacular overhead kick from the right side of the
area that only just cleared the crossbar.
Coventry were struggling to forge decent chances with a rare McSheffrey volley
after 63 minutes failing to trouble Bywater.
Then five minutes later, West Ham all but wrapped up the points from the
penalty spot.
When Zamora charged into the box he was crudely brought down by Steve Staunton
and, after a long debate with Marlon Harewood over who should take the
spot-kick, Connolly stepped up to expertly fire home.
With time running out, Coventry threw everything forward, sending on Graham
Barrett and Andy Morrell in a bid to break down the Hammers' rearguard.
But despite a spell of late pressure that saw McSheffrey again fire close,
there was no way through.
Teams
West Ham Bywater, Ferdinand, Dailly, Melville, Horlock,
Harewood (McAnuff 86), Lomas, Mullins, Nowland (Cohen 63),
Zamora (Deane 90), Connolly.
Subs Not Used: Srnicek, Hutchison.
Booked: Nowland.
Goals: Zamora 37, Connolly 71 pen.
Coventry Shearer, Deloumeaux, Konjic, Davenport, Staunton,
Gudjonsson (Barrett 80), Safri (Kerr 66), Doyle, Warnock,
Joachim (Morrell 80), McSheffrey.
Subs Not Used: Ward, Shaw.
Booked: Konjic.
Att: 27,890
Ref: H Webb (S Yorkshire).
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