Ashton Finishes Pilgrims

Plymouth Argyle put up a brave fight last night at Upton Park only to be knocked out by an injury time goal for West Ham.

A cold Wednesday night in the East End saw the visit of Plymouth Argyle for a Carling Cup clash that the pilgrims were hoping would be an upset for the premiership side. I would love to tell you about the first 20 minutes of the game but I was still queuing to pick up my pre-paid ticket from one of the 2 people serving the other 400 fans who were in the same dilemma. On the other hand we were listening intently and from the sounds of things it was a good opening exchange.

The defensive problems which had been displayed at Stoke last weekend were no where to be seen and the back four seemed to be absorbing the West Ham pressure effectively, when shots were finding their way through McCormick seemed to have dealt with his confidence and was off his line to collect the ball when he needed to. Despite the fact that I still grimace at every set piece directed anywhere near our box, it was good to see the organization that we had established at the back.

The back was not the only place that we were looking tidy, some fantastic play down the wings and in the midfield was creating chances and keeping possession for the visitors.

With a more familiar starting 11 i.e Sylvan and Hayles up front Ian Holloway had come here to do one thing, show West Ham what Argyle were about. A 2,000 strong Green Army cheered on as our boys in Yellow kept pushing forward and creating chances but also absorbing anything thrown at us the other end. When the half time whistle went 0-0 was indeed a fair score line for the entertaining clash that was developing on the pitch, although West Ham had had the better of clear cut chances, Argyle were holding their own, especially with Norris and Buzsaky making absolute nuisances of themselves in the midfield by running straight at a sometimes bewildered West Ham defence.

The second half kicked off and started with the same energy that had bee displayed in the first 45 minutes, this was going to be won by someone and I don’t think either set of fans were sure by whom. As Argyle were now kicking towards their fans it was nice when I realized that actually the majority of the first half I had been squinting and this half everything was happening down near us, we must have had the majority of our possession in the opposition half.

It wasn’t long before the midfield menaces were causing problems again and SEB and Hayles, who appeared to be linking together a lot better than the first half, were on the receiving end of some cracking balls into the West Ham box, twice Hayles almost finding his way past the last man to net, but just falling short. Alan Curbishley obviously saw this as a warning and Ljungberg was replaced by Bowyer to try and finish off what had already been 70 minutes of goalless but gritty football.

With 12 minutes remaining Barry Hayles looked like he was going to break the deadlock when a defensive blunder saw him round the keeper only to miss cue the ball and have it cleared off the line for a corner. West Ham responded with a cannon shot that McCormick held into his chest and moments later an Ashton free kick that landed on top of the Argyle net after taking a serious rebound from the wall. Sylvan Ebanks-Blake was replaced by Rory Fallon as Holloway was trying to get a bit of height in the box to finish this tie and prepare for what looked like extra time. Then in the second minute of added time, just as it looked like we were going to have another 30 minutes, a crossed ball from the left connected with a sweet volley from Ashton who pinpointed the far corner of the goal, Luke McCormick who almost got his hand to it could have done nothing, a class strike from the England international finished us off.

Even the 1-0 score line and the fact there was only a minute or so remaining didn’t dampen the spirit of the Green Army who seemed to respond by getting even louder to back their boys who had battled so hard. West Ham may have beaten us but not by more than a fraction and I don’t think there was one fan in that ground who didn’t recognise the fight and class of an Arglye team who put in one of their best performances of recent years. 2,000 very proud greens marched their way out of the East End last night, and although disappointed this one is still gleaming with pride this morning.