Match Report by @WestHamAmerican

A flurry of goals early in the second half of play gave West Ham a 1-4 victory in the premier league today over Huddersfield Town as David Moyes grabbed his 200th league victory and West Ham secured a much needed three points while away at John Smith’s Stadium today.

The opening half featured none of the Hammers’ usual suspects at forward, as Andy Carroll and Diafra Sakho were not on the roster.  Havier Hernandez, after a sub-par FA cup tie, spent the day on the bench.  Moyes did have both Manuel Lanzini and Marko Arnautovic up top and they made the most of their opportunity but waited until the second half of play to come to life.

The first 45 minutes were largely forgettable football other than Mark Noble capitalizing off a poor pass from Hudderfield’s keeper as the errant Jonas Lossl pass was snatched up by the West Ham captain and he put it past the near post to take the early lead.

The Terriers’ fans were brought back into the match moments before the break when Joe Lolley cut through traffic and fired a beautiful left-footed shot that curled beyond Adrian’s reach.  With the score knotted 1-1 neither manager made any half time changes to the lineup.

Whatever David Moyes said in the changing room, it must have motivated his side as Arnautovic took a pass from Kouyate and having only Tommy Smith to beat he fired it from the edge of the penalty area and scored only 14 seconds after the kick off.

Now playing on the front-foot, West Ham were in attack mode and Arnautovic seemed somewhat determined to involve Lanzini more as he took the ball through the defense and played the Argentine through. Lanzini then sent it past Lossl into the far corner of the net.

The Arnie- Lanzini combination found a fourth when Arnautovic drove into the penalty area, and was taken down by Christopher Schindler.   He managed to play to Lanzini before he lost possession and once again Manu sent Lossl the wrong direction and the visiting club picked up a 1-4 lead.

Other than the early goal, West Ham’s defending was more spirited than other matches against bottom-half of the table competition.  James Collins playing in place of Winston Reid added some stability to the back line.  In the 73rd the hosts looked to climb back into the match as Alex Pritchard took a free kick from only 25 yards in front of goal.  The ball deflected off of Johnathan Hogg and almost was disaster for the Hammers, if not for Adrian’s spirited dive to the right to push it away from goal.

The final moments saw neither side threaten too seriously.  After four minutes of added time, Jon Moss ended things and West Ham found themselves 11th in the Premier League table.   January and February might turn out to be the club’s best chance to earn permanent safety as there are no top ten opponents a visit to Liverpool on February 24.   The near-term challenge for Moyes, besides a non-productive January transfer window, is how to set up for a FA cup replay Tuesday night against Shrewsbury Town.  The League One side showed no fear last week.  Weighing any risk to the likes of Lanzini and Arnautovic while they are playing in good form is a tough call for the manager.  An honest run at the FA Cup would be good for West Ham, but only five points from safety it’s a bit of a gamble.

 

Huddersfield Town: Lossl, Smith, Malone, Schindler, Zanka, Hogg, Mooy, Van La Parra, Ince, Lolley, Depoitre.

Subs: Kongolo (71’), Sabiri, Coleman, Williams, Pritchard (65’), Mounie, Hefele

 

West Ham:  Adrian, Cresswell, Zabaleta, Ogbonna, Collins, Masuaku, Obiang, Noble, Kouyate, Lanzini, Arnautovic.

Subs:  Hart, Hernandez, Burke, Cullan, Rice (85’), Ayew (83’)

 

Referee:  Moss