West Ham 2-3 Tottenham - Highlights & Match Report

On a night when the life of West Ham and England legend Bobby Moore was immaculately celebrated by all present, Upton Park was home to an exciting London derby that did the 1966 world cup winning captain proud. West Ham made a lively start to the game and the first real test for either goalkeeper came in the 10th minute, when Matthew Jarvis cut inside and shot low to Hugo Lloris' right, but the Frenchman was equal to it and held it well. Almost immediately, Spurs countered quickly and Aaron Lennon came close to putting the Lilywhites one up. But it was that man Gareth Bale, in the same attack, who found the net first, side-stepping James Collins and burying the ball in to the bottom left from 20 yards after 13 minutes. Spurs started to take charge immediately after the goal, showing the greater purpose as West Ham looked wobbly, but were limited to half chances and long distance efforts for a 10 minute period, with Kyle Walker firing high and wide in the 22nd minute and Bale firing straight at Jaaskelainen a minute later. In the the 25th minute, however, Scott Parker was adjudged to have clipped Andy Carroll in the box on the follow-through of a tackle, causing Howard Webb to point at the spot, and the Geordie striker stepped up to bury the resulting penalty. West Ham suffered a blow in the 35th minute when captain Kevin Nolan was forced off by injury, with Matthew Taylor replacing him and Winston Reid taking over the captaincy. On 39 minutes, a clever lobbed ball by Joe Cole put Matthew Jarvis through on goal, but a superb last ditch sliding block from Kyle Walker saw the ball safely out for a corner. A spell of Spurs pressure then saw the tireless Lewis Holtby fire over, followed by Steven Caulker testing Jaaskelainen with a header from a Gareth Bale corner, but the Finnish stopper pulled off a great save to push the ball round the post. In first half injury time, Gareth Bale put a 40 yard free-kick just over the bar and the teams went in all square at half-time. Spurs got the second half underway with neither side having made any changes and it was Spurs who made the brighter start. A deflected Jan Vertonghen cross nearly sneaked in to the corner of the net after 47 minutes, but Jaaskelainen was alert to it and tipped it round the post. The resulting corner found Caulker's head and he was denied for the second time in the match by Jaaskelainen. This was followed by a scrappy back and forth spell in which neither team showed any kind of end product, with a poor header from James Collins being the closest either team came to scoring. Gylfi Sigurdsson was introduced after 56 minutes, replacing Lewis Holtby, and immediately made his presence felt. The Icelandic international shot from 20 yards, but Jaaskelainen tipped it on to the post. The rebound came straight to Adebayor, who headed it straight at the Finnish goalkeeper when he should have scored. Tottenham would be made to pay for this miss just a minute later, when Joe Cole turned on a sixpence to fire past Hugo Lloris and net his 2nd goal for West Ham since his return to the club. On 63 minutes, Gareth Bale proved he is human after all as he sent a 30 yard free kick high in to the Upton Park stands, while Gylfi Sigurdsson saw a shot deflected just wide. Remarkably, from the resulting corner, Steven Caulker again saw a header brilliantly saved by Jaaskelainen and the despondent Spurs defender could not believe what he was seeing. Jaaskelainen then tipped a clever 20 yard curled effort from Gareth Bale over the bar as the Finn began to look unbeatable, before Scott Parker saw a long-distance effort sail just wide and Bale put another free-kick wide of the target. On 72 minutes, West Ham looked to consolidate their lead with the introduction of Austrian defender Emanuel Pogatetz, who replaced Guy Demel. Two minutes later, Matthew Taylor was put clean through on goal by Joe Cole and Hugo Lloris was forced in to making a fantastic one-on-one save, as Spurs replaced Moussa Dembele with youngster Tom Carroll. Then, during the next Spurs attack, Gareth Bale delivered a free-kick from the right hand side and a subsequent messy goalmouth scramble ended with Gylfi Sigurdsson scoring his first Premier League goal for Tottenham, tapping home to level the score at 2-2. The away crowd started to really get behind Spurs at this point and a lively Tottenham attack resulted in Jaaskelainen having to make 2 saves in quick succession from Bale and Adebayor respectively. Spurs started really dominating possession and piling on the pressure, forcing West Ham to make a substitution to stem the momentum, bringing on Jack Collison for Diame after 84 minutes. On 88 minutes, Andy Carroll tried a spectacular overhead effort, but fired well over the Spurs bar. Spurs then replaced Scott Parker with Jake Livermore, making their third and final substitution. But in the 90th minute, Gareth Bale produced a moment of magic - something we've come to almost expect from him - to leave Jaaskelainen helpless from 25 yards. It needed to be special to beat Jaaskelainen tonight - and special it absolutely was. 4 minutes of injury time then ensued, but it wasn't enough for West Ham as Spurs ran out 3-2 victors to move in to 3rd position in the league. Referee: Howard Webb. Attendance: 35,005. West Ham United Jaaskelainen, Demel (Pogatetz, 72), Collins, Reid, O'Brien, O'Neil, Diame (Collison, 84), Nolan (Taylor, 35), Jarvis, J Cole, Carroll. Tottenham Hotspur Lloris, Walker, Dawson, Caulker, Vertonghen, Dembele (Carroll, 75), Parker (Livermore, 88), Holtby (Sigurdsson, 56), Bale, Lennon, Adebayor.