West Ham put their shaky home form on hold today and gave Brighton a 6-0 thrashing at home, to close the gap on both points and goal difference on wavering Southampton. If there was ever a time for the lads to put in a top performance, today was a good day to do it, and they did it with aplomb, putting us three up within ten minutes. Another three in the second half, including a completed hat trick by the superb Ricardo Vaz Te, means we are now 3 points and 3 goals behind Southampton, who have tricky trips to Middlesbrough and Peterbrough to come.
Everyone did their bit today, though I'll point out a few highlights….
Demel – I thought he looked hesitant against Barnsley, but he is getting into his groove and is looking a decent player
Reid – it's apparent how much we have missed Winston, he's a solid player and his distribution when bringing the ball out of defence is excellent
Vaz Te – excellent goals and just causes defences all sorts of problems
Nolan – his goals have been important all season, but his overall performances of late have been much better, seems to be tackling more and working hard
Great to see us hitting home form, though one is left wondering what could have been had we not dropped silly points to lesser clubs. Tuesday night sees Southampton go to Peterbrough, let's hope the pressure starts to tell, and that we keep on playing like we did today. Great work Hammers!