The Hammers haul themselves off the foot of the table with a hard-fought but deserved win over the Terriers.
Updated
Mon 11 Sep 2017 16.52 EDT
First published on Mon 11 Sep 2017 14.00 EDT
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FULL TIME: West Ham United 2-0 Huddersfield Town
And that’s that. West Ham deserved their win, even if they needed a huge stroke of fortune to break the deadlock. They rise off the foot of the table, while Huddersfield taste Premier League defeat for the first time. ♫ Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Slaven, happy birthday to yoo-o-ou! ♪ ♫
90 min +3: Rice comes on for Obiang.
90 min +2: West Ham are happy to sit back and admire their work. Mooy scurries about, trying to make something happen for Huddersfield, but he can’t prise the Hammers open.
90 min: There will be four added minutes.
88 min: Mounie and Ince combine well down the inside-right channel, but the latter’s shot is blocked, its energy removed, and deflected into the arms of Hart. West Ham go up the other end, Antonio snatching at a shot from the right of the D. He’s been excellent tonight, though, and has deservedly won the man of the match award.
87 min: West Ham let Huddersfield string a few passes together in the midfield. Once the visitors get near the penalty area, the space is closed down.
85 min: A sense that this game is done and dusted, which it pretty much is of course. A celebratory atmosphere in the London Stadium.
83 min: A couple of changes. Carroll is hooked for Sakho, while Billing is replaced by Depoitre. “I’d just like to let Gavin Hutchinson (15 mins) know that there’s a word for a John Charles / Marco Van Basten cross,” writes Geoff Wignall. “Well, two words actually, neither of them Andy or Carroll: Denis and Law. Once of Huddersfield of course.”
81 min: From the set piece, there’s a half-arsed claim for a penalty as the ball brushes Obiang’s arm. They’ll not get that. But then the ball finds Ince on the edge of the area. He lashes a rising shot goalwards. The ball smacks the bar, having taken a little nick along its way. What an effort! And it’s all for nothing, because that’s what the next corner comes to.
79 min: West Ham deserve their lead on the balance of play. Mounie tries to respond with a snap shot from the right of the West Ham D. Hart is forced to tip the ball round the right-hand post before it sneaks into the corner.
GOAL! West Ham United 2-0 Huddersfield Town (Ayew 77)
Clear daylight for West Ham! A corner’s won down the right. It’s whipped towards the near post, where Fonte attempts to bundle the ball home. It’s blocked on the line, but squirts out of a melee and sits up for Ayew, who pokes home from a couple of yards! The atmosphere is bubbling up nicely now, and it looks like being a very happy birthday for Slaven Bilic!
75 min: Sabiri comes on for Kachunga.
74 min: Obiang’s shot was probably going wide left, on second view. That may well go down as a Jorgensen own goal.
GOAL! West Ham United 1-0 Huddersfield Town (Obiang 72)
Huddersfield finally concede a goal in the Premier League, and they’re awfully unlucky! Ayew zips in from the right and slides the ball to Obiang, who has a dig from 25 yards. He’s aiming for the top left. The ball twangs off Jorgensen’s back, loops up, and flies along an unstoppable arc, dropping into the top-right corner. Lossl had no chance, and the London Stadium explodes in relief!
71 min: Antonio is stopped in his tracks down the left by Jorgensen, a light slap to the chops. There wasn’t much in that, though the defender wants to watch himself, on a booking as he is. The resulting set piece is swung in by Cresswell, whose delivery has been excellent tonight. Three West Ham players line up in the middle, but none of them can make contact.
69 min: Cresswell crosses deep from the left, forcing Malone into an acrobatic clearance for a corner at the far post. The set piece is gathered, after a jugging fashion, by Lossl.
68 min: Mooy has a bash from distance. It’s always rising. But it’s something. Huddersfield have been very quiet in attack.
66 min: It’s all got a bit scrappy again. Thank goodness for this report’s co-author Paul Beaumont, then. He’s got news of a “PLOT TWIST IN NORWAY! The Christian Party has just announced that it will not join nor prop up a coalition that allows FRP (read UKIP) to stay in power: ‘The distance between us is too big.’ The left may take back power after all! No sign of Huddersfield plot twist mind. Clean sheet record hanging by a thread.”
64 min: Both teams make a change. Lowe is replaced by Malone; Hernandez is replaced by Ayew. The home fans don’t like that decision at all, and meet it with a smattering of boos. “You’re getting sacked in the morning,” trill paying punters of unidentified stripe. It’s his birthday, for goodness sake!
62 min: Zabaleta hovers on the right-hand corner of the Huddersfield box, receives a pass, then scoops a cross to the far post, nearly finding Carroll. The big man can’t get his head on the ball. But there’s a sense that chances are a-coming, at both ends.
61 min: It’s opening up, this game, now. Huddersfield win a corner down the right. Some head tennis. West Ham clear their lines. Then the visitors come again, Ince having a dig from 25 yards. It clanks off Reid’s ankle. The sting removed, the ball loops into the air and into the arms of Hart.
59 min: And now it’s time for Huddersfield fans to take a sharp intake of breath, as Schindler makes an awful hash of controlling a long West Ham punt, and slices it out of play to the left of his own goal. The corner comes to nothing, but that was nearly disastrous for the visitors.
58 min: Mounie threatens to break clear down the inside-left channel with West Ham very light at the back. He’s flagged offside. Hart then tries to take a quick free kick with a rolling ball. He batters it straight at Mounie, who wasn’t ten yards away, and gets a second go. A few West Ham hearts in mouths there for a second.
56 min: Fonte curls a cross in from the right. Hernandez, on the edge of the D with his back to goal, plays a cute reverse pass down the inside-right channel for Kouyate, just inside the area. Never quite in control, always battling with Schindler, Kouyate nevertheless manages to fire a low shot meant for the bottom right just wide of the post. That’s a lovely move: simple, crisp and effective. And so nearly the opening goal.
54 min: Hart’s hands are warmed for the first time this evening, as Billing drops a shoulder to make room for himself 25 yards from goal, and sends a heatseeker towards the bottom right. The West Ham keeper is behind it all the way, smothering without fuss.
53 min: All a bit scrappy this. Hernandez tries to release Antonio down the inside-right channel but his pass clanks into the first blue-and-white shirt. “It’s election time down here in New Zealand too, or will be in 11 days,” reports Paul Cockburn. “I empathise with our Huddersfield-supporting Norwegian friends, because we too have the chance to turf out the incumbent right-of-centre government in favour of something bold and new. Tonight though, Kiwi Hammers (of which there are quite a few watching via MBM or at the pub at 8am in various cities; we have a Facebook page and everything) are just hoping that we can scrape up one more vote off Andy’s pony-tailed nut to settle this, and to take some of the jitters away. This could be a long 45 minutes otherwise.”
51 min: Huddersfield launch a quiet sortie into West Ham territory, Mooy slipping the ball wide left to Van La Parra, whose cross is way too deep. Goal kick. Meanwhile Paul Beaumont is back: “How we (Huddersfield) have not conceded here is beyond me. We have West Ham’s profligacy to thank for that. I reckon Huddersfield’s lethargy stems from Mooy being off-colour - our star bald Aussie midfielder - who has often struggled when coming back from international duty. However, there are some reasons for optimism. West Ham seemed to tire towards the end of the half: one can’t press for 90, and I reckon they are probably burnt out. Also, Wagner has a history of being able to make game changing substitutions to secure late goals. Prediction: Kelsey Palmer comes off the bench for Ince and repeats his goal scoring exploits for the England Under-21s with a tidy finish from 18 yards. 1-0 Huddersfield. You heard it hear first. Meanwhile if you are living in my house in Norway you are already miserable as it appears the Green’s are set to fall short of the 4% threshold necessary to gain a proportional number of the seats. Meanwhile, Norway’s Ukip, the Progress Party, look set to more or less retain their 15% of the vote.”
49 min: Zabaleta whips a fine cross into the Huddersfield box from the right. It causes no danger. Frustrated, he slides in on Van La Parra, and is correctly booked for the lunge.
48 min: Hernandez looks for the top right with the free kick, but converts in the rugby style instead. West Ham have started the second half in very positive fashion, though.
47 min: A long ball forward by Collins drops to Antonio on the edge of the box. He takes a fresh air shot. But West Ham come back again at Huddersfield, who only half clear, and Schindler clumsily clatters into Antonio. A free kick, 25 yards out.
And we’re off again! West Ham get the ball rolling. More pretty bubbles in the air.
Shameless half-time plug. I’ve written a new book. An oblique nod to Abbott and Costello, it’s called The Title, and it’s the history of the old First Division before the Premier League circus rolled into town. Huddersfield are naturally well represented, and there’s a fair bit of West Ham too. The Observer kindly published an extract: the bit they chose is light on Terriers, but heavy on dog.
HALF TIME: West Ham United 0-0 Huddersfield Town
Van La Parra strides down the middle and slips the ball to Ince on his right. Ince reaches the area. A sucker punch by Huddersfield right at the end of the half? Nope. Ince doesn’t really connect with the shot and it’s blocked. And that’s that for the opening 45. West Ham have been the better side, but Huddersfield still haven’t conceded a goal in this year’s Premier League. Don’t go away! Back soon!
45 min: Billing is booked for hanging an arm into Zabaleta’s face. That looked accidental, too, though Zabaleta isn’t too happy about it, feeling his lip gingerly.
44 min: After a brief tussle in the midfield, Reid can-cans a boot into Mounie’s face. It’s the craze of the week. It’s unintentional, and after the magic sponge is applied to the Huddersfield striker’s coupon, we play on.
43 min: A free kick for West Ham, 30 yards out in a central position. Cresswell looks to curl one into the top right, but gets it all wrong. The ball flies harmlessly over the bar. “I think it’s safe to say Bilic has not lost the dressing room,” observes Paul Beaumont of 12th-minute fame. “West Ham are playing for their lives and beating Huddersfield at their own gegenpress here. Meanwhile here in Norway, it looks like the right will squeak it, but its too early to know for sure.”
40 min: After a brief lull, West Ham spring into life again. Cresswell hoicks a cross into the Huddersfield box from the left. Carroll cushions a header back to Antonio, on his own on the penalty spot! But Antonio sends a harmless bobbler wide right of the target, disappointing a crowd expecting the net to ripple.
37 min: But West Ham keep coming back at Huddersfield. The extremely impressive Antonio drops a shoulder to cut in from the right, and looks to shape one into the top left. His effort is deflected over the bar. The corner is another of the great non-events.