West Ham 3-2 Sampdoria: Blucerchiati fall at the death

Date: 9th August 2014 at 5:58pm
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West Ham beat Sampdoria 3-2 at the Boleyn Ground to claim the Marathonbet Cup on August 9.

Sampdoria opened the scoring early with a composed effort by birthday boy Stefano Okaka before Mark Noble equalised in first half injury time from the penalty spot, Eder restored the lead on the hour before Mohamed Diame levelled and Reece Burke tapped-in to win it at the end for the hosts

Okaka opened the scoring in the 16th minute after a neat through-ball from defender Fabrizio Cacciatore and the striker used his strength to shrug off James Collins and slide the ball into the bottom right post passed Adrian.

The Hammers thought they’d scored in the 21st minute after Carlton Cole netted but the linesman’s flag had been up for some time.

Samp looked exposed on the half-hour mark following a quick free kick routine but Kevin Nolan scuffed his shot wide after some neat build-up play.

The Serie A side then went straight down the other end but Nenad Krsticic’s square ball to Manolo Gabbiadini fell just behind the striker and possession was lost just as Sampdoria looked dangerous.

West Ham regained momentum just before the break and ex-Lazio man Mauro Zarate’s had a free kick in a dangerous position blocked by the wall and the follow-up effort from Cheikhou Kouyate went straight at Da Costa.

Kouyate had a good chance as he went clean through on gall but his touch was heavy and the ball was claimed by Da Costa.

West Ham were awarded a penalty in injury time of the first-half after Dan Potts was brought down by Lorenzo De Silvestre amidst some scrappy defending and Mark Noble sent Da Costa the wrong way to send the sides in with the score 1-1.

Gabbiadini did well give himself a sight of goal with the some skill soon after the restart but he blasted over

The Irons came close in the 51st minute when Kouyate’s low shot from the right-hand side rolled just by Da Costa’s far post.

Eder restored Samp’s lead in the 61st minute after a clever dummy from Angelo Palombo to leave Pedro Obiang’s pass gave the Brazilian a clear route to goal and he calmly slid the ball in at the far post.

The Hammers found space down the left flank but a piercing ball across the face of goal was hooked away and Da Costa caught a weak header with ease to calm things down.

The home side equalised in the 77th minute following a powerful run by Mohamed Diame who broke into the area from the right before beating Da Costa at his left post.

West Ham continued to look threatening and hit the post with 11 minutes to go with a Stewart Downing header before Potts put the rebound over from close range.

The hosts continued to look for a winner with seven minutes left and Da Costa did well to claw a cross from the right out for a corner and Ricardo Vaz Tez’s long shot from the subsequent corner flew narrowly off target.

Stewart Downing came close to winning it in the 87th minute but Bartosz Salamon did well to get in the way of his strike at goal.

Reece Burke gave the Hammers the win with a tap-in after Elliot Lee squared the ball from the right and the youngster was left alone for a simple tap-in to give the hosts the cup.

 

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