West Ham vs Spuds - CackyBoo Cup -- Halloween 2018

favorite day of the year.... but the most frightening thing is how our injury list is growing...

Noble's red card at the weekend keeps him out of this one, so unfortunately he'll only miss two actual Prem games...

A repeat of the scoreline from the last round would be nice (so long as it goes in our favor)

For the princely sum of $4.99 (hopefully I'll remember to cancel before the 7 day free trial is up) I get to watch this on the new ESPN+

so... see y'all at game time

minute's silence for the victims of the Leicester chopper crash... Gold lays out the wreath along with Cottee and Ledley King


as always... immaculately observed....

Team news...

West Ham United: Adrian, Fredericks, Diop, Ogbonna, Masuaku, Obiang, Rice, Felipe Anderson, Diangana, Hernandez, Antonio.
Subs: Fabianski, Balbuena, Arnautovic, Snodgrass, Lucas Perez, Powell, Coventry.

Tottenham Hotspur: Gazzaniga, Walker-Peters, Sanchez, Foyth, Aurier, Winks, Wanyama, Alli, Eriksen, Son, Llorente.
Subs: Vorm, Nkoudou, Sissoko, Lucas Moura, Skipp, Eyoma, Marsh.

West Ham must do without suspended skipper Mark Noble. They make five changes with Adrian, Ryan Fredericks, Angelo Ogbonna, Pedro Obiang and Michail Antonio all stepping up. Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen, subs against Manchester City two nights ago, both start for Spurs. But there’s no Harry Kane in the squad as Mauricio Pochettino makes ten changes.

Spuds kick off...

almost got a break but Antonio made a heavy touch and gave it back to Spuds.

We seem to be completely ignoring the Spuds player out of the far wing - as we have done ever since I started watching us...

scarily.. our record and Spuds in the stage of proceedings and together is pretty heavily stacked in our favor... so hopefully it continues...

but it's pretty much spuds on top for the opening couple minutes.

Diangana gets a free kick and we play it across the back and back to Adrian to keep a bit of possession

diangana wins the first corner...

bit of head tennis but Obiang's final shot was a hoof to nowhere...

we're pressing - which is good to see

but Spuds keep possession and the final ball through the defense is flagged offside

nice run from Diangana... he looks so good

ball in the back of the net for Spuds but it's whistled offside... same thing happened against Leicester at the weekend...

the pressing is good... the catching them offside is good... but it only takes one slip or dodgy decision to ruin all the good work.

spuds offside again...

good skills from Diangana - wins a free kick

more great skills form Diangana on the wing... cuts through Spuds like a knife through butter... sets up Chicharito but the ball is just too high and the weak shot is out for a corner..

great corner... ripe for a bullet header into the net but Spuds get it and clear it...

and that's all it takes... bit of a fupp up in defense... intercept a ball - which is good... but then play it to the opponent - which is bad...

and the pass beats the offside trap so the ball rifles into the back of the net...

well at least I can cancel my free trial of ESPN+ if we don't get something out of this...

17 minutes gone and we're a goal down at home...

another break by Spuds but this time Diop gets in two good blocks to keep them out.

we really should be better than Spurs... it sucks that we're not.

no change in anything... Spuds are on top

almost half hour gone... bit more pressure from us but nothing really to show for it... but as I type that, Antonio loops a shot goanward that gets deflected for a corner...

the corner of course comes to nothing...

we're playing pretty well... it's pretty well balanced... if it weren't for the fact that we're losing... it'd be a pretty good game...

ten minutes till the break... gotta get back on level terms or this is gonna be al for nought

Declan Rice looks so good


and as I type that... antonio carves Spuds open like a halloween pumpkin but he's heavenly tracked and can only shoot wide (deflected) from a few yards out...

the corner loops right over everyone and Diang plays it down to the line and crosses but there's no one on the end to turn it into the net...


got to do one of two things...

turn pressure into a goal

or

hit on the break against the run of play (like Spuds did)

either way we need a goal...

as a long, looping free kick finds Chcicharito unmarked and two yards out but he can only bundle the ball straight into the keeper....

another great free kick... but a great save by the Spuds keeper to deny us right at the end of the half...

all the good work comes with nothing to show for it....

half time

teams out for the second half...

bubbles blowing...

Spuds still lead...

rain still falls...

Snodgrass is coming on for.... Anderson

Spuds steal possession but can't do anything with it...

Antonio almost gets a one-on-one with the keeper but the ball is bundled away... the follow up gets put out for a corner

corner comes in... lots of bits and pieces that I have no words to describe... and the ball goes out...





shot of the crowd... THAT's David Pleat? he looks like Grandpa from the Munsters

dang gets hacked down...


if we could have a team of 5 Diangana and 5 Declan Rice's... we'd be all right


much more pressure from us this half... but unless we get somehting to show for it... it all means nothing

the comms calling it a "spurs reserve side" really doesn't help matters when we're behind...