Bale Delivers the Hammers Blow

West Ham United were narrowly beaten by a Gareth Bale inspired Tottenham performance on the night that recognised 20 years since Bobby Moore lost his battle with bowel cancer. The crowd engaged in a minutes silence for their former Captain and England legend before Upton Park erupted in anticipation for the heavily awaited London Derby.  The Hammers went 1-0 down after 13 minutes as Bale surged through a retreating West Ham defence before sliding home a shot past Jaaskelainen from the edge of the box. West Ham replied by applying pressure on Tottenham before winning a penalty on the 25 minute mark as ex-Hammer Scott Parker brought down Andy Carroll, who then blasted the ball into the roof of the net, sending Lloris the wrong way, from 12 yards to level the scoring. West Ham continued to press but were weakened as Captain Kevin Nolan picked up an injury forcing him to be replaced by Matthew Taylor. The teams went in level at the break after Jussi Jaaskelainen pulled off three spectacular saves from a strong Spurs attack.

As the second half started West Ham launched many attacks before Jaaskelainen pulled off a fantastic reflex save to deny Adebayor from heading home after substitute Gylfi Sigurdsson's shot came off the post. West Ham then attacked directly as O'Brien crossed in an inviting ball for Joe Cole who got in behind the Spurs defence and controlled well and fired in from close range before being booked for removing his shirt in his celebration. The home side should have extended their lead but Matthew Taylor failed to convert his one-on-one which saw Spurs 'keeper Hugo Lloris save well. West Ham looked as if they were going to be punished as Tottenham piled on the pressure but continued to be denied by Jaaskelainen who proved to be in inspired form. However, Bale, the source of all West Hams problems delivered a free-kick that saw Sigurdsson poke the ball into the net from a scrap at the far post, drawing Tottenham level. Tottenham's comeback was complete when Gareth Bale picked up the ball outside the box on the 90th minute and sent a wonderful strike into the top right hand corner of Jaaskelainen's net, leaving both West Ham fans and the players deflated as their best efforts had been ruled out by Bale, who is in the form of his life.