Sparkling West Ham beat Liverpool

Posted Monday, February 28, 2011 by UK.eurosport.yahoo.com

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish was forced to abandon his 5-3-2 formation when right-back Martin Kelly pulled up with a hamstring injury and was replaced by former West Ham captain Joe Cole.

Soon afterwards, Ba scored his third goal in as many league games since joining the Hammers when he met Gary O'Neil's chipped cross with a header which is best described as a falling rather than a diving one. However it is classified, it was an excellent effort that Reina could do nothing about except watch it fly into the near top corner.

Things got worse for Liverpool soon after the restart when Meireles was forced off after struggling with a knock he picked up in the first half.

Ba almost got his second of the match when he drilled a solid low strike that flashed wide of Reina's post, while at the other end Suarez almost scored his second Liverpool goal after rolling past James Tomkins on the edge of the box, only for Robert Green to make a good two-handed save.

When Piquionne glanced a header from a corner wide it alerted Liverpool to the fact that the result was not yet set in stone, and their push for an equaliser bore fruit five minutes from time. Suarez turned skilfully and swiftly in the West Ham box and his low ball across the six yard box was turned in by Johnson.

Any fears among the Upton Park faithful that their team were going to throw away two points were allayed when Cole, having only just come off the bench, muscled the ball from Martin Skrtel with embarrassing ease before bamboozling Jamie Carragher with a stepover and drilling a low strike past Reina.

After a run of four straight wins was halted by a draw at home to Wigan, Liverpool's resurgence under Kenny Dalglish has certainly hit its first major blip.

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