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Delving back into the WHO archives.
On this day in 2004 West Ham played Rotherham United at Upton Park and won 1-0 with Matthew Etherington scoring the only goal.
AlexV was again the man with the review:
http://web.archive.org/web/20041019063000/http://www.westhamonline.net/feature.php?20405
[3 Points - No Style Marks]
Nobody can pretend we were royally entertained on the pitch tonight - we dominated the match without really carving out the chances to deserve more than a one-goal lead, and the result is far more encouraging than the performance itself. But these were the sort of games that we were really stuttering in last season - teams shutting up shop against us and trying to frustrate the players and crowd. I remember games last season where the team didn't seem like it had really turned up, but today we were giving 100%. I think now that the club and fans are now getting used to the way things are in this division - even poor opposition are organised to frustrate us rather than express themselves, but thank God we seem to be finding ways to snatch victories out of these stalemates. 4 home debuts, our first team in flux once again, and yet we managed to keep calm as a team and patiently wait for the chance to come our way, which it eventually did.
[No-hopers Rotherham]
Really I can't find a single shred of consolation from Rotherham's point of view - they came to snatch a draw, came fairly close, but just really had nothing to offer themselves and got nothing as a result. They seem desperately short of physical presence - they couldn't win a single header in defence or attack, so they were always fighting against the odds from the start. Scott Minto was just about their best player on the night - says it all really. The first thing I checked when I got home was the relegation odds on Betfair - tuck in...
[Davenport - Class Act]
Unfortunately the class act on the pitch is the one player we have absolutely zero chance of holding onto long-term. This young lad Davenport really played another blinder to go with his performance in Sheffield - he won absolutely everything that came anywhere near him, looked comfortable and composed on the ball, and wasn't afraid to boot it into the stand if the situation merited it. He looks worth every penny that Spurs paid for him on this showing, and its hardly surprising that there's nobody in our team of quite the same class - that's the gulf between us and the Premiership at the moment.
[Malky Mackay - Warhorse]
A good name for a pirate if ever I heard one. Well he was everything I expected. Bit of a lump, not afraid to put it about a bit, not much finesse, useful for set-pieces, a warhorse at the back. He'll do us well no doubt, the money spent (300k) seems a bit excessive for a veteran defender deemed too sluggish for the Premiership, but if he helps push us up then nobody will question the value for money. Certainly he was constantly shouting and gesturing at team-mates, particularly Repka who had a good game on the right - if he can just help keep Tomas under control he'll be worth his weight in gold.
[Chris Powell - Stop-gap left-back]
Not quite sure what the loan of Chris Powell will do for the squad - ex-England Internationals can't come too cheap surely and I would guess that he's only marginally better than Brevett on this showing. Maybe Pards feels that Brevett can't cope with three matches in a week, and I suppose competition can't be a bad thing - add to that Powell's experience and I suppose you have a welcome addition to the squad. But I just can't get too excited about another player with no real long-term value...
[Fletcher Impressive]
After a quiet first half we really got to see what Pardew saw in Fletcher to pluck him from obscurity to the club - I was very impressed with his work-rate, application and tenacity in the second half. He won tackles and headers, drove forward and backwards, and generally did the right thing with the ball when it went to him. One wonderful bit of skill in the box should have perhaps got us a goal but for his poor finish, but I think the silky skills are an exception to the rule - there's nothing too pretty about the player, but he certainly looks far more reliable than the alternatives in central midfield this season, and may prove more than just an able deputy for Steve Lomas.
[The Beginning Of The End]
You can't really argue with any of the four signings - there's not much doubt that they pad out the squad and generally are improvements on the players they have replaced in the team. The main casualty of the new signings would seem to be Andy Melville - hard to see him getting back in the side with so much competition about. But I must say that even after a very promising first season, I'm starting to wonder if the team genuinely misses Hayden Mullins when he isn't there - his performances have been lacklustre this season and despite playing in different positions all over the pitch for the club he doesn't really seem to have made any of them his own. Mullins seems to have ended up 5th choice centre-back, 5th choice central midfielder, and 2nd choice right-back - hardly a glowing reference...
[Feelgood Free-kicks]
That's 2 goals from free kicks in two games. Amazing really that Etherington ever got the ball off Sheringham for one of them - Teddy went close from one in the first half and scored one on Saturday but stepped aside to let Matty curl one inside the far post. Etherington looked back to his impish best tonight, driving forward excellently and delivering some good crosses in from open play and set-pieces. But it's great to see West Ham scoring from dead-ball situations after years and years in the wilderness in that respect - the improvement seems to have come about directly since Pardew and his staff took over, credit where it's due...
[A Season On Course]
As the old man keeps reminding me, a 2-points-per-match average is good enough for automatic promotion - we've played 8, 16 points, you do the math. What's great is that the win tonight draws us level with Wigan who have showed all the early-season form playing out of their skin, and we frankly have looked totally off-the-boil in so many ways this season and find ourselves only one point off the pace. Momentum is just starting to build, and the club is now in the position to actually stamp their authority on this division from the off...
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Other results from this day:
2015 West Ham United 2 Newcastle United 0
2006 West Ham United 0 Palermo 1
1996 West Ham United 0 Wimbledon 2
1991 Norwich City 2 West Ham United 1
1985 West Ham United 3 Leicester City 0
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