West Ham United completed their first season back in the Premier League by caning relegated Reading 4-2 on Sunday.
Captain Kevin Nolan bagged himself a hat-trick with Ricardo Vaz Te chipping in with the other goal.
West Ham started brightly but it took a slice of luck to open the scoring when Alex McCarthy in the Reading goal hit a clearance straight into the back of our lanky superstar Andy Carroll and fell perfectly for Mr On The Spot Kevin Nolan to slot home into an empty net.
Carroll was immediately involved again when Mo Diame crossed the ball in from the left hand side which Carroll brought down brilliantly and layed off for Vaz Te to rifle home and make it 2-0 West Ham.
Second Half
After dominating in the first half, West Ham looked to flush all their good work down the toilet when Reading came out looking far brighter than in the first half.
McCleary then struck a long-range effort at goal which got a deflection off of Mark Noble leaving Jussi with no chance in goal.
The dust had barely settled on Readings first goal when West Ham old boy Jobi McAnuff’s cross from the left found super sub Adam Le Fondre at the far post for a nice easy tap in to level the game at 2-2.
Reading then pressed for a winner and looked capable of getting it, until Mark Noble chipped a lovely through ball over the Reading defence for El Capitan Kevin Nolan to run onto and after a sweet piece of control and a lovely touch putting the ball in front of him he slotted home past the Reading keeper making it 3-2.
With the stuffing taken out of Reading West Ham then got a fourth when Nolan again rose unmarked in the Reading box to head home making it 4-2 to the very happy Hammers!
Allardyce reaction
Speaking to SkySports, Allardyce said:
It was a fantastic end of the season and fantastic entertainment value.
Just a great end to a very good season. It is great to see the players and fans appreciate what they have done for each other this season.
He was right it has been a very good season for West Ham and finishing 10th in the Premier League after just being promoted is fantastic.
Next order of business should be to tie down Andy Carroll on a permanent deal, but if the deal fails to materialize then I think the club should have a word in Chelsea’s ear asking if Lukaku would be available on loan again as he has been outstanding for WBA this season and indeed scored a hat-trick himself this weekend.
How about you? Who do you think we should be trying to sign this summer in preparation of our second season back at footballs top table?
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