A tale of two first penalties

West Ham v Watford

Saturday 10^th February

Never mind that we’d got on a wrong train and had to go back a stop from Aldgate, we made it to Upton Park for the second time in two weeks, with Joss predicting a 1-0 win, in plenty of time to join in the pre-match warm-up shouts. Joss, who’d been chatty on the train and quick to pick up the Spanish he was supposed to have learnt for today, had a bit of a headache from falling out of bed last night and didn’t shout as much as usual but I made up for him. We were twenty rows further back than a fortnight ago and amongst a loud bunch of kids who kept the shouting up all game.

It was the best of times on 13 minutes, when Henderson, who’d already looked better than he has been, was pulled back in the box by Anton Ferdinand and awarded a penalty. Our glee turned to apprehension when we saw he was to take it. In a long build-up, Calum Davenport was booked for encroaching but when Henderson stepped up, he calmly slotted it into the bottom left hand corner and the Horns were a goal ahead. It was Watford’s first Premiership penalty and Henderson’s first goal of the season. Such firsts so late in the term are amongst the reasons we are last.

Johan Cavalli, the French midfielder we signed on the transfer deadline day for free from Istres, made his debut and looked skilful and effective, shielding the ball well and weaving around players easily. Unable to read his name and not having heard it at the beginning, the deft touches he displayed led me to assume he was our Brazilian signing, Douglas Rinaldi. Anyway, I thought he was the most effective of the three midfielders who came in January that I have seen so far. He was playing where Hameur Bouazza would be, though, so I hope Betty can find a way to keep them both in the team. If so, it might have to be Damien Francis who makes way.

We were pretty resilient in defence, and when “England’s Number One” (who played his full debut for the national side in our lame 1-0 defeat to Spain on Wednesday) was called on to perform, he made a fine save from a Yossi Benayoun long range effort. Marlon Harewood missed a number of chances and we didn’t have too many more but we went in up at the break. Carlos Tevez came on in the second half and was their biggest threat for the next fifty minutes.

However, West Ham’s best chance came when our captain, Gavin Mahon, was adjudged to have fouled their captain, Nigel Reo Coker, and they were awarded their first penalty of the season. After we took our hands out of our heads, we joined in another bout of “England’s number one”. Foster, however, went the wrong way and could only watch as…Harewood hit it wide. I led another chant of “That’s why you’re going down” as West Ham had their worst of times. I do love this type of schadenfreude.

There was plenty to sing about and I led quite a few today. “Is this a library” and the Moses Ashikodi song after he came on, which was evidently new to many around. Steve Kabba also put a lot of work on and was rewarded with 2 chants. Mine (his name to the “Come on, come on” tune) was superseded by a “Super, super Steve, super, super Steve, super, super Steve, super Stevie Kabba”. We finished with “the Horns are staying up”. The Hammers next game is against Charlton, ours against Wigan. Then we play Charlton at the beginning of March. Nothing is absolutely ruled out yet. It is the epoch of belief.

We walked to East Ham, getting there a lot more quickly and easily than last time and a guy (Hammer) I play football with at Regents Park, Eric, was there by the ticket gates. I gave him a big hug, which he just loved. Joss and I practised more Spanish on the way home and he was remembering stuff well. I promised we’d take him abroad in the summer if he makes sufficient effort with the language. How do you say “bring on the FA Cup run” in Espanol?