West Ham 2-1 Birmingham

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West Ham striker Carlton Cole stepped off the bench to earn the 10-man Hammers a potentially crucial first-leg advantage in their Carling Cup semi-final against Birmingham at Upton Park.

After the hosts had been pegged back to 1-1 and seen Victor Obinna sent off for a crazy kick out at Sebastian Larsson, Cole bagged the winner with only 10 minutes left - and it was a personal nightmare for Blues keeper Ben Foster, who let the striker's soft shot roll under his hand and trickle over the line.

That the east Londoners won and did so despite playing for over half an hour with fewer men might just keep manager Avram Grant in a job, despite reports that the Israeli is about to be sacked by the Premier League's bottom club.

Grant will be desperate to finish the job of getting West Ham to their first Wembley cup final in 30 years when they meet Birmingham in the second leg at St Andrews on 26 January; though arguably of more pressing concern is whether he will still be at the helm for Saturday's Premier League encounter with Arsenal.

The atmosphere at Upton Park before kick-off reflected the palpable tension surrounding the club right now, with nerves as big a factor as excitement ahead of the Hammers' first League Cup semi-final for more than 20 years.

Grant's future has been the subject of rumour after rumour for much of the season and last week's horrific 5-0 thumping at Newcastle was the catalyst for another round of fevered speculation.

Martin O'Neill and Sam Allardyce's names have been strongly linked with the Hammers hot-seat, with the West Ham board reportedly due to meet on Wednesday to discuss Grant's future once more, perhaps annoyed almost as much by the Israeli's public rebuking of managing director Karren Brady for discussing transfer policy in her newspaper column as by results.

Grant may have considered that only a performance of the very highest quality could keep him in a job - and the way his players started the game gave the 55-year-old shelter from the storm that was brewing.

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Grant admits speculation is a distraction


The hosts flew out of the traps and with Scott Parker and Mark Noble working beautifully together in tandem in the centre of their midfield they began to exert serious pressure on Foster's goal.

Freddie Sears volleyed wide after a corner was half-punched clear by Foster, before a Larsson clearance hit Matthew Upson - playing at left-back - and forced Foster into a fine reaction save at his near post.

The noise from the crowd grew as the stature of their team did and soon after, when the east Londoners took the lead, they nearly took the roof off.

A Noble ball in from the right was not cleared, Jonathan Spector's volley flew across goal from the left and fell beautifully for Noble to thump a volley in at Foster's near post from a seemingly impossible angle.

Foster had been left unsighted by Scott Dann's positioning at his post, but the goalkeeper was about to prove his worth to Birmingham by keeping them in the game with a series of stunning saves as West Ham produced wave after wave of attack in their bid to find a crucial second goal.

Foster did superbly to parry away Spector's stinging 25-yard drive before showing wonderful reflexes to tip over a James Tomkins header.

Just after the half-hour mark the visiting keeper did even better to get down to his left and keep out Obinna's fiercely-struck right-foot shot as Birmingham's defence continued to look suspect in front of him.

Despite enjoying more than their fair share of possession the visitors did not look like creating anything, with their lack of a killer ball painfully obvious as they harmlessly knocked the ball around outside the home side's box without ever looking like they would hurt them.

But Birmingham were clearly stung by some harsh words from manager Alex McLeish at the break and within 15 minutes of the restart the game had an entirely different complexion.

After Craig Gardner dragged a free-kick wide and Cameron Jerome's header was cleared off the line by Sears, the Blues got the goal their improvement warranted as Ridgewell beat Winston Reid to a corner and thumped in a header to send the travelling fans wild.

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McLeish feels hard done by in defeat


When Obinna was red carded shortly after for a ridiculous kick on Larsson it seemed as though West Ham's hopes of reaching Wembley, and in turn Grant's of keeping his job, lay in serious jeopardy.

But they survived some real pressure as David Murphy flashed a header inches wide of Rob Green's right-hand post and then struck the killer blow on the night - and, they hope, the tie - after introducing the fresh legs of Cole and Zavon Hines.

It was a lovely build-up that created the chance as Parker slid Spector in down the right and he crossed to where Cole wanted the ball playing, about 15 yards out.

Cole would have been disappointed not to get a proper contact but it proved enough as a wrong-footed Foster made a horrible mess of saving it.

That was harsh on the former Manchester United keeper after a performance which kept his team in the tie at times. But Grant, so often starved of luck himself, will feel both he and his side were worthy of the good fortune. Only time will tell whether it will be enough.



Live text and stats

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Tuesday, 11 January 2011

Carling Cup

• Final Result
• Full Time
• 90:00+3:22 The game is over, as the referee blows his whistle.
• 90:00+1:32 Unfair challenge on Julien Faubert by Roger Johnson results in a free kick. Robert Green takes the free kick.
• 89:49 Substitution Radoslav Kovac joins the action as a substitute, replacing Mark Noble.
• 89:25 Headed effort from inside the penalty area by Nikola Zigic misses to the right of the target.
• 88:40 Carlton Cole concedes a free kick for a foul on Barry Ferguson. Ben Foster takes the free kick.
• 86:05 Substitution Nikola Zigic comes on in place of Sebastian Larsson.
• 82:35 Substitution (Birmingham) makes a substitution, with Jean Beausejour coming on for Alexander Hleb.
• 77:59 Assist on the goal came from Jonathan Spector.
• 77:59 GOAL - Carlton Cole:West Ham 2 - 1 Birmingham Carlton Cole grabs a goal from inside the penalty box to the bottom left corner of the goal. West Ham 2-1 Birmingham.
• 75:10 Corner taken by Sebastian Larsson from the right by-line, Matthew Upson manages to make a clearance.
• 73:02 Substitution Zavon Hines on for Freddie Sears.
• 72:31 Substitution Carlton Cole joins the action as a substitute, replacing Frederic Piquionne.
• 69:10 Julien Faubert concedes a free kick for a foul on David Murphy. Free kick crossed left-footed by David Murphy from left wing, fantastic save by Robert Green.
• 67:42 Stephen Carr is flagged offside by the assistant referee. Free kick taken by Robert Green.
• 63:26 Free kick awarded for a foul by James Tomkins on Craig Gardner. Barry Ferguson restarts play with the free kick.
• 61:11 The referee blows for offside against Frederic Piquionne. Ben Foster takes the free kick.
• Correction - 58:30 Sent off Victor Obinna is shown a red card for violent conduct.
• 58:30 Sent off Red card for Victor Obinna.
• 55:51 Inswinging corner taken right-footed by Sebastian Larsson from the left by-line, the assist for the goal came from Sebastian Larsson.
• 55:51 GOAL - Liam Ridgewell:West Ham 1 - 1 Birmingham Liam Ridgewell scores a headed goal from deep inside the penalty box. West Ham 1-1 Birmingham.
• 54:40 Corner from right by-line taken by Sebastian Larsson.
• 53:05 Free kick awarded for an unfair challenge on Liam Ridgewell by Frederic Piquionne. Free kick crossed right-footed by Sebastian Larsson from left wing, save made by Robert Green.
• 51:28 Inswinging corner taken by Sebastian Larsson from the right by-line.
• 50:41 Corner taken by Sebastian Larsson from the right by-line.
• 48:52 Unfair challenge on Craig Gardner by Winston Reid results in a free kick. Craig Gardner produces a strike on goal direct from the free kick.
• 48:20 Craig Gardner concedes a free kick for a foul on Jonathan Spector. Indirect free kick taken by Jonathan Spector.
• 45:01 The referee blows his whistle to start the second half.
• 45:01 Substitution David Murphy replaces Scott Dann.
• Half Time
• 45:00+1:22 The referee calls an end to the first half.
• 45:00+0:01 Outswinging corner taken from the right by-line by Sebastian Larsson.
• 42:30 Frederic Piquionne is adjudged to have handled the ball. Direct free kick taken by Sebastian Larsson, Headed effort from deep inside the penalty area by Scott Dann goes harmlessly over the crossbar.
• 41:11 The ball is delivered by Sebastian Larsson, Robert Green makes a fantastic save.
• 39:40 Cameron Jerome challenges James Tomkins unfairly and gives away a free kick. Robert Green takes the free kick.
• 39:12 Effort from inside the area by Victor Obinna misses to the left of the goal.
• 37:15 Effort on goal by Freddie Sears from just inside the box goes harmlessly over the target.
• 35:07 Julien Faubert fouled by Keith Fahey, the ref awards a free kick. Robert Green takes the free kick.
• 32:34 Shot by Freddie Sears from deep inside the penalty area misses wide to the left of the target.
• 29:49 Outswinging corner taken right-footed by Craig Gardner from the right by-line, save by Robert Green.
• 29:15 Victor Obinna takes a shot. Ben Foster makes a save.
• 21:28 Corner taken by Freddie Sears, Liam Ridgewell makes a clearance.
• 21:14 James Tomkins takes a shot.
• 20:32 Jonathan Spector takes a shot. Ben Foster gets a block in.
• 18:54 Outswinging corner taken right-footed by Scott Parker, clearance made by Roger Johnson.
• 18:07 The ball is delivered by Stephen Carr, save by Robert Green.
• 15:08 The assistant referee flags for offside against Cameron Jerome. Winston Reid takes the free kick.
• 13:20 Corner from the right by-line taken by Sebastian Larsson, clearance made by Mark Noble.
• 12:12 Jonathan Spector provided the assist for the goal.
• 12:12 GOAL - Mark Noble:West Ham 1 - 0 Birmingham Mark Noble grabs a goal from deep inside the penalty box to the top right corner of the goal. West Ham 1-0 Birmingham.
• 11:22 Craig Gardner takes a shot. Robert Green makes a comfortable save.
• 10:32 Free kick awarded for a foul by Scott Parker on Barry Ferguson. Free kick taken by Stephen Carr.
• 6:32 Mark Noble takes a inswinging corner from the left by-line to the near post.
• 4:32 Effort from deep inside the area by Keith Fahey misses to the left of the goal.
• 4:04 Corner taken by Craig Gardner from the left by-line played to the near post, clearance made by Robert Green.
• 2:22 The offside flag is raised against Cameron Jerome. Free kick taken by Robert Green.
• 2:04 Victor Obinna is ruled offside. Ben Foster restarts play with the free kick.
• 1:50 Frederic Piquionne fouled by Liam Ridgewell, the ref awards a free kick. Free kick taken by Scott Parker.
• 0:00 The referee gets the game underway.

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