West Ham fans try to keep spirits up

Man Utd 2 West Ham 0

Juan Sebastian Veron’s free-kick put Manchester United 2-0 up at half-time after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s deflected header had given Alex Ferguson’s side the lead against West Ham at Old Trafford.

“We’re going to win 3-2” sung the West Ham fans, but even they sounded unconvinced as Glenn Roeder’s men struggled to even get out of their half.

Finally the Hammers put together a decent attack – more than half-an-hour into the game – but Trevor Sinclair’s acrobatic attempt at an overhead volley did not test Fabien Barthez.

Ruud van Nistelrooy had been a constant lurking presence for West Ham and when he spun in the box to confront James it looked odds-on to be 3-0 but the visitors’ keeper did ever so well to spread himself and block the shot.

Christian Dailly’s hopeful but hopeless 35-yard shot was only noteworthy for its rarity value, and when Defoe did hammer the ball into the net he was harshly ruled offside.