18 December 2006, by Sean Gillen

United come unstuck at West Ham

West Ham United 1-0 Manchester United

Manchester United’s 12-match undefeated run in the Premiership came to a dramatic halt as they were surprisingly beaten by relegation threatened West Ham at Upton Park.

Nigel Reo-Coker’s goal fifteen minutes from time gave the Hammers a famous win, and handed United their first away defeat of the season to see their lead at the top of the Premiership cut to two points.

Buoyed by the appointment of new manager Alan Curbishley, West Ham started strongly and tried to put United under pressure from the first whistle. Hayden Mullins’ shot from outside the area came at the end of a frantic opening few minutes from the hosts.

United soon settled, and a good build-up involving Michael Carrick and Cristiano Ronaldo led to Wayne Rooney shooting over from the edge of the area. West Ham then missed a golden opportunity on ten minutes when Etherington failed to head Bowyer’s cross on target from close range.

The game became an open affair, with both sides adopting a positive approach. Marlon Harewood’s tremendous hit from 25 metres flew over the bar, while Louis Saha made space on his left foot and drove a shot towards the bottom corner, but Robert Green reacted with an excellent low save.

The best chance of the first half came when Hammers’ forward Bobby Zamora latched onto a throughball and held off the attentions of Rio Ferdinand, before being denied by a great save from United goalkeeper Edwin van Der Sar.

As expected, Cristiano Ronaldo suffered a particularly negative reception from the West Ham fans. The Portuguese still represented United’s most dangerous threat, though, and he saw his deflected cross almost headed in by Rooney.

However, United generally struggled to develop good attacking play into clear-cut chances. The second half continued in an equally open manner, with the spirited home side, while showing plenty of intent, also rarely testing van Der Sar in the United goal.

Ronaldo goes close

The closest United came to a breakthrough saw Ronaldo brilliantly denied by Green. The former Sporting man, playing on the left wing in the second half, cut inside into the penalty box and curled a right-footed finish towards the far corner, only for Green to get a hand to the ball and push it away.

Ronaldo then cut the ball back across the penalty area for Giggs to fire well over the bar. With the Giggs chance coming on the hour mark, United’s goal-threat faded and despite enjoying vast amounts of possession, they created little to trouble a stubborn home defence during the remainder of the game.

Despite United not being at their best, West Ham’s goal was against the run of play. Teddy Sheringham fed Harewood inside the penalty area, and the powerful forward carried the ball to the byline before picking out Reo-Coker for the captain to score from close range.

United boss Alex Ferguson threw on Ji-Sung Park in the closing stages, but his side did not come close to finding an equaliser to give them the point they probably deserved on balance of play.

With their lead at the top of the table reduced and the performance levels becoming slightly less convincing in recent weeks, Ferguson will be hoping that United can get back on track next weekend against Aston Villa, as they embark on the hectic Premiership Christmas fixture schedule.

West Ham:
Green, Spector, Ferdinand, Collins, Konchesky, Bowyer, Reo-Coker, Mullins (Benayoun 71), Etherington (McCartney 77), Harewood, Zamora (Sheringham 59)
Yellow Cards: Reo-Coker (72), Sheringham (73), Ferdinand (93)

Man Utd:
Van der Sar, Neville, Ferdinand, Vidic, Heinze (Park 88), Ronaldo, Carrick (O'Shea 84), Scholes, Giggs (Solskjaer 73), Rooney, Saha
Yellow Cards: Heinze (26), Vidic (52)

Goals:
[1-0] Reo-Coker, 75