Embarrassing

West Ham 3 - 0 BORO

Boro walked away from their weekend game at Upton Park embarrassed 3-0 losers as West Ham ran riot in the second half.

West Ham started with Craig Bellamy and Dean Ashton up front as they looked for their first home win of the season.

The Hammers started brightly and Bellamy looked on fire with bursts of pace and flare.
Then Mark Noble saw his 20-yard effort zip just wide of Schwarzer's goal after a deflection off Jonathan Woodgate.
But it was Dean Ashton who scored first. His first goal since the 2006 FA Cup Final, but fortunately for Boro he was ruled to be offside.

However, West Ham were dealt a crushing blow on 26 minutes as Welsh hit man Craig Bellamy had to be substituted with what appeared to be a groin injury. He was replaced by former Chelsea striker Carlton Cole.

Aliadiere had Boro's best chance in the opening minutes as he looked to open his Boro account. His shot, after a good lay-off from Mido, ricocheted off Rob Green's post.

Aliadiere looked like he was going to run riot now, with the Hammers pace man, Bellamy, off the field. But with just 4 minutes passed since Bellamy had left the field, Aliadiere had to be subbed as he pulled-up with a hamstring injury. The Frenchman was making a blinding run on the counter attack when he stopped sharp, fortunately managing to play the ball through to Mido.

Aliadiere made way for another new boy to try to bag his first Boro goal, Tuncay.

Both teams looked a little sloppy now that they had lost their pace players and Carlton Cole looked simply awful for West Ham. The teams went into the break with a fair 0-0 scoreline.

Gareth Southgate would have looked for his team to maintain their first half performance and push through for a win. But Boro got off to a nightmare second half, Lee Bowyer scoring after just 1 minute.
Bowyer embarrassed Boro's defenders as he forced his way into the area and volleyed home Carlton Cole's cross.

It was important that Boro try and fight back to equalise, but barely 5 minutes had past when Carlton Cole, the weak link in the first half, played a low cross into the 6-yard area where Luke Young, agonisingly, slid the ball into his own net whilst attempting to clear.

Tuncay aimed to go on where Aliadiere had left off and found himself with chances to score on more than one occasion as, first, his lob shot beat Rob Green but bounced out off the bar and a second chance from six yard was saved well by Green. Tuncay could undoubtedly have had a hat-trick of goals before Dean Ashton scored again, only this one was not disallowed as he timed his run well to beat the deffence and score from Matthew Etherington's left sided cross.

Not the best circumstances to come on, but the Boro Boss handed Gary O'Neil his Boro debut as he replaced in form Brazilian, Fabio Rochemback, to try and regain a foot hold in the game. But O'Neil could do little to clinch a result for Boro, having just one notable chance on goal.

The game had proved to be a tale of 2 halves as the teams looked completely different second half compared to their first half performances.

Boro must overcome their inability to take chances if they are to give themselves a chance of winning games. They could have at least gained a draw from Saturday if only they had converted a fraction of their chances.

Boro Boss Gareth Southgate:
"They have effectively won the match in the first five minutes of the second half.

"It's a harsh lesson for us, we didn't get out of the blocks in the second half, but we'll learn from it."