Chapter 101 - West Ham(3)

In the 24th minute, West Ham received a tough ordeal. Southampton started the attack with a through ball from Bennet to the left. On the left side, Ryan broke through Demel and entered the penalty box. At the same time, Kazuki immediately shot out of Collin's guard. Ryan passed the ball towards Kazuki. The Japanese player greeted the ball with a header that deflected the ball.

Too bad, Reid blocked the ball with his body, he immediately threw the ball forward. Rudolf jumped high and defeated Nolan in an aerial duel. He managed to head the ball forward. The ball bounced in front of Bennett. The player adjusted his position and gave a hard shot towards the goal. Jääskeläinen was pushing his body flew, his right hand grabbed the ball and pushed the ball away from the goalpost.

Again, West Ham's luck was terrible, the ball fell at Simone's feet, so Simone easily pushed the ball into the West Ham goalpost. Jääskeläinen tried to save the goal, but it was too late. The ball went smoothly into the West Ham net. The referee blew the whistle to confirm the goal. Southampton's players immediately celebrated the goal in front of the Southampton fans' stands.

"Bennet gave a through ball to Ryan. Good move from Ryan, he managed to break through to the penalty box. Just pass it to Kazuki. Oh, too bad, Kazuki's header was blocked by Reid. Nolan was about to receive the ball, great! Rudolf managed to head the ball into the net. Bennet hits the ball, excellent save from Jääskeläinen. Goaaaall! Simone's rebounding effortlessly in! Southampton finally took the lead in the 25th minute."

West Ham restarted kick-off. The intensity of the game soared after Southampton's goal. West Ham started using fouls to stop Southampton's attack. In the 27th minute, West Ham midfielder Nolan was shown a yellow card by the referee after a tackle on Rudolf.

Dirty fouls committed by West Ham disrupted the flow of Southampton's attack. Southampton began to struggle in building attacks as West Ham continued to commit fouls to disrupt the flow of the ball. In the 33rd minute, West Ham got a chance to counterattack. Crossing pass from Freddy successfully headed by Collins out of the penalty box. Diame received the ball and gave it to Demel.

The West Ham right-back ran fast. He dribbled the ball across the halfway line, but Rustan soon caught up from behind and held Demel's shirt tightly. Demel passed the ball to Taylor. But before Taylor received the ball, Benson ran towards him and pushed Taylor's body with his body. The referee immediately blew the whistle, gave a warning to Benson, then awarded a free-kick for West Ham United.

Diame stood in front of the ball. Free kick distance this time was quite ideal. The wall was built by the Southampton players. With the support of the fans, Diame kicked the ball. The ball curled over the player's wall and towards the goalpost. Fortunately, Okhalo managed to clear the ball with a header.

Freddy rushed to the ball and carried it forward. However, he was soon stopped by a tackle from Noble. The ball rushed off the pitch and Southampton failed to counterattack.

The high intensity of the match made the Southampton players start to feel pressured by the attacks launched by West Ham United. West Ham attacks always relied on the crossing ball from the opponent. Although simple, this strategy often made Southampton almost concede.

Fortunately, in this match, Okhalo and Hilton were in good form. They managed to win the aerial duel against Cole and Jarvis. Southampton's strong defense shone under West Ham's attack. In the 37th minute, Jarvis got away from Hilton's guard, at the same time Nolan rushed the ball forward. Jarvis caught the ball and hit it hard, but Okhalo appeared and blocked Jarvis' shot.

In the 41st minute, Cole fell in the middle of the penalty box. In replays, it appears that Cole intentionally threw himself in front of Hilton, but the referee misjudged, he pointed to the penalty spot while giving Hilton a yellow card. Southampton protested but to no avail, the referee was very firm in his stance.

Cole took the penalty. As soon as the referee whistled, he kicked the ball confidently. However, Dean Smith put in an excellent performance, he managed to guess the direction of the penalty and blocked it with both hands. Cole who saw it was surprised, he did not expect his penalty kick missed.

"Cole is going to take the penalty. He's getting ready to kick. The whistle blows, he hits the ball to the right, Great! Super save from Southampton keeper Dean Smith. Too bad such a good chance didn't turn into a goal. Southampton is still 1-0 up over West Ham."

After the penalty failure, the West Ham players seemed to experience a psychological decline. They became less aggressive than before. This made Southampton again dominate in the final minutes of the first half.

In the 45th minute, Noble went up to try to press Freddy while Nolan tried to keep Simone. Freddy pulled the ball back as Noble advanced, then he pushed the ball diagonally into the middle. After that, he passed Noble and chased the ball. Nolan rushed for the ball, but Freddy gets the ball first, he made a pass to Simone.

Simone who escaped Nolan's guard immediately pulled the ball and brought the ball forward. At the right moment, he gave Bennet a pass. The silence bothered Bennet again. Throughout the first half, Bennet always lost the duel against Diame. However, this time Diame failed, Bennet managed to trick him with a simple trick. Bennet then dribbled past Diame.

Collins went up to intercept Bennett. At the same time, Kazuki immediately moved and broke free from Reid's guard. Bennet gave the ball through to Kazuki. The ball was slightly tilted to the right, so Kazuki could catch up with the ball more easily than Reid. However, as a result, Kazuki's shooting space became narrow, Kazuki provided a pass to the left side, Ryan entered the penalty box and gave Bennet a pass.

Bennett entered the penalty box, then used his left foot to kick the ball. The ball curved towards the top left corner of the goalpost. The West Ham United goalkeeper reacted quickly enough, he jumped after Bennet had kicked the ball. The ball hits the outside post and bounced off the field.

"Bennet faced Diame, brilliant! He passes Diame, to give Kazuki a through ball. The Japanese player crosses to the left side of West Ham United's penalty box. Ryan gets into the box. He gives Bennet a pass.. Shot! Ah! what's up with Bennet? Your accuracy needs to be improved, there is space to shoot, but Bennet's shot misses the goal."