IP卡
狗仔卡
发表于 2007-5-12 09:26:00
The irrepressible Carlos Tevez secured West Ham's great escape as he continued to ignore the controversy surrounding his position to score the only goal in a 1-0 win at Manchester United that guarantees The Hammers' top-flight status.
Having been 10 points shy of safety with nine games to play, Alan Curbishley's side completed their remarkable renaissance by claiming a seventh win in nine games to ensure that Sheffield United would be joining Charlton and Watford in the Championship next season.
Given the huge focus on the controversial figure of Tevez over the past few weeks, it was almost inevitable that the Argentinian would take centre stage yet again, and he duly collected his seventh goal in 10 games deep into first half injury-time to put The Hammers in firm control of their own destiny.
The new Champions - fielding a weakened side ahead of the FA Cup final next weekend - were unable to find the two goals that would have relegated The Hammers, but the fact that it was Tevez who became the match-winner may only fuel threats of potential legal action from the so-called 'Gang of Four' after the Premier League's recent failure to dock points following his suspect transfer.
However, Hammers fans will not let such considerations dampen their spirits and if the win at Old Trafford does prove to be Tevez's last in a West Ham shirt, he can be guaranteed of heroic status in East London for the rest of his career after almost single-handedly rescuing the club from Championship football over the past few weeks.
Once Old Trafford had acclaimed its title heroes with a rapturous reception, and West Ham had welcomed their opponents onto the pitch with a guard of honour, the nail-biting ensued for Curbishley and his bench as Ferguson's side comprehensively dominated in the first half.
Both Wayne Rooney and Gabriel Heinze had free-kicks deflected wide, and the first real opening came when Darren Fletcher fed the England star in superbly, but Rooney opted to cut back instead of taking a first time shot and found himself crowded out by West Ham's attentive defenders.
The Londoners had little joy in their own forward forays, with Wes Brown twice producing excellent clearing headers when Tevez and Bobby Zamora were ready to pounce.
The Red Devils grew in stature throughout the half, and some fluid one-touch football resulted in Rooney dragging a shot just wide, whilst Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was also unable to find a decisive connection when sticking out a leg at a thumping cross from his English team-mate.
Just before the half-hour mark West Ham were forced into a change when Jonathan Spector came on to replace the injured George McCartney, and the former Red Devil was called into action immediately as he painfully blocked a shot from Alan Smith.
Ferguson's side continued to up the ante and, on 31 minutes, were inches away from taking the lead when Yossi Benayoun headed a Smith shot off the line and then blocked Kieran Richardson's follow-up.
It was a huge let-off for The Hammers, but, just eight minutes later, they may have felt hard done by themselves when Brown appeared to block a Tevez shot with his arms inside the penalty box.
The first priority for Curbishley was to reach half-time on an equal footing, but the Champions should have taken the lead late on in the half when both John O'Shea and Richardson wasted great opportunities.
However, two minutes into injury-time and firmly against the run of play, Tevez cemented his status as the darling of Upton Park with a crucial goal. The Argentinian played a one-two with Zamora before benefiting from a deflection off Brown to produce a fine first-time angled finish to beat van der Sar.
The dramatic intervention from the striker who has attracted so much controversy meant that West Ham would have to concede twice in the second half to be condemned to Championship football, as Wigan were leading 2-1 at Sheffield United.
After the break, Curbishley's side looked to further cement their advantageous position when Tevez, yet again, attempted in vain to steer Benayoun's cross towards goal.
In an attempt to win the game, and deflect any possible suggestions of favouritism towards his good friend Alan Curbishley, Ferguson introduced three players who made the shortlist for the PFA Player of the Year award as Cristiano Ronaldo, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs entered the fray.
The Welshman made an immediate impact as he floated a beautiful cross to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at the back post, but the Norwegian's header was too close to Green to trouble the Hammers keeper.
Anton Ferdinand was also called into making a desperate clearance, whilst at the other end Luis Boa Morte sent a half-volley thundering over the bar after Tevez failed to reach a cross from the right.
The Portuguese winger then struck a shot against the outside of the post after a tussle with Brown in the box, and as the clock ticked past 75 minutes West Ham moved ever closer to safety.
Ronaldo almost burst their bubble when his downwards header was grasped by Green, and the double player of the year tested the Hammers shot stopper twice more in the following five minutes.
In the closing stages, O'Shea was also denied a penalty despite a messy challenge from Boa Morte, and Giggs was unable to convert the follow-up as United continued to appeal for the spot-kick.
Tevez was removed on 83 minutes, and his replacement Marlon Harewood almost settled West Ham's nerves once and for all when his fierce drive was spilled by van der Sar.
Richardson clearly wanted to keep them sweating as his drive curled just wide of the upright on the brink of injury time, and Green excelled again in the dying seconds as he kept out a rising effort from Scholes to keep his second clean sheet against the Champions this season.
Referee Martin Atkinson then blew for full-time to signal the completion of a quite remarkable turnaround for West Ham under Curbishley, even if it remains a remote possibility that the final occupation of the relegation places could be determined in the law courts over the summer
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