Daily WHUFC News - 15th July 2012

Macca happy with Southend win
WHUFC.com
Neil McDonald on the Hammers' win at Southend United and with encouraging
news about Dan Potts
14.07.2012

Neil McDonald was delighted to see West Ham United secure a comfortable 3-0
pre-season victory at Southend United on Saturday. The assistant manager was
even happier to report encouraging news about left-back Dan Potts, who left
the pitch on a stretcher with five minutes remaining following a nasty clash
of heads with Shrimpers defender Mark Phillips. Potts was knocked out cold
for a short period before regaining consciousness and being tended to by the
Club's medical staff and paramedics. He was carefully fitted with a neck
brace before being stretchered off the pitch to an ovation from the
7,000-plus spectators inside Roots Hall. Thankfully, the 18-year-old was up
on his feet again in the dressing room a short time later and was able to
have a shower. Potts, who was voted Man of the Match at Southend, will be
taken to hospital on Saturday evening for a precautionary scan and will be
kept in overnight for observation. McDonald told West Ham TV: "Pottsy is
fine. He is going to stay overnight in hospital just to double-check he is
all right but he's up and walking about. He's got showered and now he'll be
taken into hospital for observation. "He's come round and he's got a bit of
a sore head which is only natural from a clash where he's made a fantastic
defensive header. We'll make sure he's OK and, all things going well, he'll
be back to work on Monday."

While the news about Potts' health provided a boost for everybody associated
with the Club, the assistant manager was also pleased with the way West Ham
played in testing conditions at Roots Hall. Heavy rain left the pitch sodden
in places, with puddles holding the ball up in the corners, but the Hammers
moved the ball quickly and relatively easily to open up Southend and score
three fine goals through Nicky Maynard, Jordan Spence and Sam Baldock.
McDonald put West Ham's impressive performance down to the hard work that
has been done on the training field since the Club returned for pre-season
on 1 July. "They're getting stronger and they're getting fitter, which is
what pre-season is all about. It was nice to get some goals as well, which
was great," he confirmed. "With another good week of work under their belts
and having played two games this week, it's building up well in pre-season.
"We passed the ball really well and kept it moving. We've been working on
keeping the ball and passing and moving during the past two weeks and we now
just need to build their fitness up. We played some really nice stuff at
times."

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Southend 0 West Ham United 3
Nicky Maynard, Jordan Spence and Sam Baldock are all on target in a
comfortable victory at Roots Hall
WHUFC.com
13.07.2012

Southend United v West Ham United
Pre-season match
Roots Hall
Saturday 14 July 2012
Kick-off: 3pm

Final score - Southend United 0-3 West Ham United
93 mins - The game is over. West Ham have their first win of the pre-season.
Goals for Maynard, Spence and Baldock completed a very comfortable and
deserved win for the Hammers. The only sour note was the late injury
suffered by Dan Potts. Again, though, let's hope it is not as serious as it
looked and the No33 is back on his feet before we know it. West Ham are back
in action again on Tuesday evening at Oxford United. For ticket details,
click here.
92 mins - Baldock races on to a pass inside the penalty area on the
left-hand side. He pulls the cross back for Lee but the angle is against the
No9 and his header is cleared off the line. Good move from the Hammers.
91 mins - Mavila is on. We'll have two minutes of added time.
89 mins - Potts is secured on a back board and put on to the orange
stretcher. Let's hope it's not too serious. As I said, they always take
every precaution when a player is involved in a clash of heads. I'll do my
best to update you to young Dan's condition later on. He gets a good round
of applause as he is carried down the tunnel.
87 mins - As with every clash of heads, they are taking every precaution
with Potts. The paramedics are tending to the youngster on the pitch and he
hasn't been moved off the turf just yet. He will be replaced by Nathan
Mavila as and when he comes off.
84 mins - Phillips wins a header and West Ham clear. The ball comes over
again and there is a nasty clash of heads involving Phillips and Potts. The
physios come on straight away. The stretcher is on and it will be for the
Hammers No33 as Phillips is up on his feet again.
83 mins - As usual, the substitute is involved straight away, but Nasha is
quick and slides in to clear from in front of Eastwood for a corner. The
first is cleared, but then another cross comes in and Spence slices behind.
82 mins - Former West Ham Academy boy Freddy Eastwood is on, much to the
delight of the home fans. Yoffe is the substitute who is substituted.
81 mins - Potts gets forward again and wins another corner. Taylor crosses
and Potts climbs, but is penalised for a foul.
79 mins - West Ham looking good for a clean sheet. Nasha looks good. I've
not seen him before. He is not the biggest defender but he can't half play a
bit with the ball at his feet. Two or three times he has carried the ball
into midfield before picking out a team-mate.
75 mins - Nasha and Potts combine. The future? The left winger runs at
Leonard and wins a throw over on the far side. The fans ask the No33 to give
them a wave and he responds with one. Cue cheers all round! Southend replace
Ferdinand with Alex Woodyard.
73 mins - Position-wise, West Ham have Demel, Spence, Nasha and Taylor
across the back four, O'Neil, Bywater, Morrison and Potts across the
midfield and Lee and Baldock in attack. Jaaskelainen, controversially,
remains in goal.
71 mins - We've got a decent attendance here today. It's 7,135 in total,
with 2,824 in the West Ham end. Not bad at all considering the weather
conditions.
68 mins - Thankfully, the pitch doesn't seem to be deteriorating too much
despite all the relentless heavy rain.
66 mins - Lee has looked really lively since his introduction. He is a
strong, skilful striker who makes up for his lack of height with superb
movement and a rasping shot. He is a real prospect.
64 mins - GOAL! Baldock has his third goal in three matches. It's a smart,
dinked finish over Smith after the goalkeeper had fumbled Lee's low shot
from distance. Good reactions from the striker and a neat finish high into
the net.
63 mins - Demel gets down the right flank and is fouled. The free-kick comes
over but is cleared.
60 mins - Southend win a corner but West Ham keep their concentration
through all the substitutions and Reid clears the box.
59 mins - Loads of changes! Reid, Noble, Nolan, Vaz Te and McCartney are
off. Demel, Nasha, Morrison, Bywater and Lee are on.
57 mins - Don't forget,you can view exclusive images like the one below on
our official Facebook site here.

56 mins - The game has petered out a bit in recent minutes. Spence gets
forward but his shot is wayward this time and flies wide of the angle of
near post and crossbar.
51 mins - O'Neil picks out the run of Potts. The left-back crosses and
Prosser cannot control on his chest and the ball runs behind. The corner is
headed away.
50 mins - The new Southend are an improvement on the old one. Right-back
Leonard gets forward and runs on to a square pass. He shoots from about 22
yards, but too high.
48 mins - Half a chance again for the Shrimpers as Martin forces a wayward
clearance from Spence. Hall cuts inside and shoots, but it's a slice and
nearly turns into a cross for Yoffe, but the ball is just too far in front
of the No19.
46 mins - Southend kick-off the second half... The Shrimpers come forward
and Yoffe has a shot from about 25 yards. Jaaskelainen collects low down.
That was on target.

West Ham are making a single change at the break. Maynard is off and Sam
Baldock is on, keen to score his third goal in three pre-season halves of
football.
Southend are fielding ten new players in the second half. Kane Ferdinand is
the only player to remain on the pitch for the start of the closing 45
minutes.
Southend United: Smith, Leonard, Phillips, Coughlan, Prosser, Folly, Martin,
Yoffe, Benyon, Ferdinand, Hall

Half-time score - Southend United 0-2 West Ham United

45 mins - Erm, we've only played 44 minutes and ten seconds but it's
half-time!
44 mins - Potts gets forward again from left-back. He's played well so far.
He swaps passes with O'Neil and wins another corner. Near post delivery from
Noble, flicked on by Vaz Te and scrambled behind for another corner. This
one is deeper but headed away.
43 mins - A cross comes in from the Southend left and Harris cannot control.
His touch turns into a sort of shot and Jaaskelainen dives to his right to
claim the ball. It might well have been going wide, that.
40 mins - McCartney slips over and Harris benefits. The cross comes over
from Sealy and Spence clears with a header. Moments later, the right-back
concedes a free-kick, but West Ham deal with the danger comfortably enough.
38 mins - The rain has got heavier. It's difficult to know what to make of
this game. Southend have only been back in pre-season for a few days and it
looks like it. They also have a number of trialists on show. Saying that,
West Ham have played some nice football in difficult conditions so far and
thoroughly deserve their lead.
34 mins - GOAL! Jordan Spence scores! The right-back collects a pass from
Vaz Te and runs from halfway. Nobody thinks to challenge him and Spence
simply looks up and lets fly with a shot that beats Taylor and nestles
inside the far post.
33 mins - Rob Hall is coming off. He's not injured - he played 120 minutes
on Thursday for England in their UEFA European Under-19 Championship
semi-final defeat by Greece in Estonia! Hall is replaced by Gary O'Neil.
27 mins - Superb football as Taylor finds Maynard with a ball down the left
touchline that curls into the box. The ball is laid back to Hall, whose shot
hits Barker and flies over. Corner. It's taken short and Noble gets the
cross in but is cleared again. Finally, Noble plays Vaz Te in on the byline,
but his cross is too high and hard for Reid to control his header. Goal
kick.
26 mins - You can see Vaz Te really fancies getting a goal today. He runs
forward again and it takes three defenders to stop him as his shot is
blocked. Moments later, Nolan heads Taylor's cross back and it hits an arm.
You can hear Nolan's appeal for a penalty from here, but nothing is given.
24 mins - Noble loses out in the tackle and Sealy has a chance to cross from
the right. He does, but Jaaskelainen dives out to claim ahead of Harris. If
you remember, the Southend No9 scored for Millwall against West Ham at the
Boleyn Ground back in 2009.

22 mins - GOAL! Maynard makes the pressure count by heading in Taylor's
dipping right-wing corner. The No8 couldn't really miss from about six
yards. That was all about the delivery. It was a wicked ball in and very
difficult to defend. West Ham thoroughly deserve it.
21 mins - Another West Ham corner as Potts, McCartney and Taylor combine
before the former's cross hits a defender. It comes to nothing until Taylor
cushions the ball wide for Noble, whose cross is headed behind. It's taken
short and West Ham win another corner through Hall. Taylor to take...
18 mins - Hurst gifts possession to Vaz Te. He cuts inside and threatens to
shoot at least twice before finding Taylor on the right corner of the
penalty area. The No14 looks up and shoots right-footed across his namesake,
but the keeper makes another decent stop and holds on low to his right. The
weather and conditions are making for a decent, exciting game, with a few
errors and some quick passing on the slick surface.
15 mins - Hurst takes advantage of a wayward header from Spence. He looks up
and crosses towards Sealy at the far post. Potts does well to get his body
in the way and head the ball clear. Jaaskelainen collects.
14 mins - Potts overlaps and crosses deep. Vaz Te wins the header and tries
to find Maynard, but he can only find the hands of goalkeeper Taylor. This
is very one-sided.
12 mins - Maynard nearly gets through again on to a Noble through-ball, but
centre-back Cresswell is stronger and eases the striker aside. Taylor out
quickly to claim on the slide. Moments later Vaz Te has a shot that clears
the South Stand!
10 mins - West Ham have another chance. Taylor shoots from distance and the
ball skips off the turf but his namesake makes another good save low to his
right. He parries and then gets up quickly to pounce on the loose ball.
9 mins - Another chance. Vaz Te drives forward and pokes a pass through for
Maynard. He tries to round Taylor but loses his footing slightly as he
shoots. It's either Taylor or a defender who deflects the ball over for
another corner. The flag-kick comes to nothing initially.
7 mins - It is all West Ham. Hall skips past one man before finding Potts.
He lays the ball to Taylor, whose near-post cross is headed away. Spence
retrieves and jinks past two players before crossing, but again it's
cleared. A third cross comes over and Nolan's header hits Barker and then
Vaz Te before bouncing wide.

5 mins - The Hammers fans are in superb voice away to my left. They are
filling the North Stand and the corners. It's like being back at
Wembley...except for the weather!

3 mins - The second corner comes over and Reid attacks it, but the Shrimpers
manage to clear their lines. Another cross comes over from the right, but
Taylor is there to make the catch. It's really wet out there - the ball is
holding up in the water on some parts of the pitch already.

2 mins - Bright start in the gloom as West Ham win a corner. Taylor whips it
over low and Vaz Te flicks the ball goalwards with his right foot. Taylor
makes another fine stop, this time low to his left, to push the ball around
the post.
48 seconds - West Ham could easily be ahead! Hall loses his marker and
crosses from the right. Taylor gets in front of his defender and heads
goalwards. Rhys Taylor makes a smart save diving to his right and pushes the
ball aside. Nolan taps home, but he is offside. Exciting start!
3.02pm - Slightly late, we're off and running. West Ham are attacking the
South Stand end of Roots Hall.

2.57pm - Here come the two teams!

2.50pm - Just to give you more information about the Academy youngsters in
the West Ham squad. Gines Guzman is a Spanish goalkeeper who has been with
Peterborough United, Rob Girdlestone and Amos Nasha are centre-backs, Nathan
Mavila joined the Hammers from Wycombe Wanderers this summer, Josh Cullen is
an England Under-16 midfielder and Kieran Bywater is an attacking
midfielder. Speaking of Academy products, Tony Cottee has just taken his
seat in the Directors Box in front of me.

2.30pm - Southend United's team news is in. Former Hammer Freddy Eastwood is
among the substitutes. Left-back Anthony Straker has just joined the Blues,
having helped Aldershot Town to beat West Ham in the Carling Cup last
season. The full Southend lineup is as follows:

Southend United: Taylor, Clohessy, Straker, Gbirsson, Cresswell, Barker,
Hurst, Ferdinand, Sealy, Harris, Tomlin
Subs: Smith, Leonard, Phillips, Coughlan, Prosser, Folly, Martin, Yoffe,
Benyon, Woodyard, Hall, Eastwood, Bentley

2pm - News flash! I think the rain has stopped and the sun is trying to come
out. Big Sam has been out to survey the surroundings, signing autographs for
fans and chatting with former Hammers striker Brian Dear, who is no part of
the corporate hospitality team here at Roots Hall.

1.55pm - As usual, we have a gallery of exclusive images from today's game
fir you to view and comment about on the official Facebook site!

1.50pm - A few unfamiliar names on the squad list today. Rob Girdlestone,
Nathan Mavilla, Amos Nasha and Kieran Bywater are all first-year scholars
who have joined the Academy on a full-time basis this season. Elliot Lee is
a second-year scholar and was top scorer in the Under-18s last term.

1.45pm - OK, well the Hammers are here and the weather appears to be
relenting, which is good news. I also have the West Ham team news for you!
Here you go:
West Ham United: Jaaskelainen, Spence, Reid, McCartney, Potts, Noble, Nolan,
Taylor, Hall, Vaz Te, Maynard
Subs: Guzman, Demel, O'Neil, Morrison, Baldock, Girdlestone, Mavilla,
Cullen, Nasha, Bywater, E.Lee

1.25pm - Well, I can safely say that this is not the most glorious of days
to be beside the seaside! It is absolutely bucketing it down with rain here
in Southend. The skies are a little brighter to the west so I'm crossing my
fingers that it will clear up before kick-off at 3pm. The Shrimpers are
expecting a bumper crowd of around 8,000 for their first pre-season
friendly, so let's hope the weather doesn't put too many people off.

Good afternoon and welcome to Roots Hall for today's pre-season fixture
between Southend United and West Ham United.
The Hammers have been regular visitors to the Essex resort in recent
seasons, with their most-recent trip down the A13 taking place in August
2010, when recent EURO 2012 runner-up Alessandro Diamanti scored in a 1-1
draw.

In competitive matches, despite the close geographical proximity of the two
clubs, Southend and West Ham have met just once in the past 17 years -
Marlon Harewood scoring both goals in a 2-0 League Cup second-round win at
the Boleyn Ground in August 2004 in a game that Mark Noble appeared in as a
substitute.
The pair's most-recent competitive meeting at Roots Hall was way back in
April 1993, when the Shrimpers ran out 1-0 winners in the old Division One.

Today's game marks the Hammers' third pre-season outing following a 3-1
defeat at FK Austria Wien a week ago and a 1-1 draw at Blue Square Bet South
side Boreham Wood on Tuesday evening. For Southend, this is their first
match since being eliminated from the npower League Two Play-Offs by Crewe
Alexandra back in May.

Sam Allardyce has brought a 22-man squad to Roots Hall, with a mixture of
youth and experience included. Alongside established senior players, Big Sam
has also selected a number of young professionals, who will no doubt benefit
from the experience of preparing alongside the likes of Kevin Nolan and Mark
Noble.
The team news should be available by 2pm, with live text commentary on the
game itselt to start at 3pm.
Finally, if you haven't made it down to Roots Hall today but want to buy a
Season Ticket for the 2012/13 Barclays Premier League campaign, click here
for full details.

Southend United: Taylor (Smith 46), Clohessy (Leonard 46), Straker (Prosser
46), Gbirsson (Phillips 46), Cresswell (Coughlan 46), Barker (Folly 46),
Hurst (Martin 46), Ferdinand (Woodyard 75), Sealy (Yoffe 46, Eastwood 82),
Harris (Benyon 46), Tomlin (Hall 46)
Sub not used: Bentley

West Ham United: Jaaskelainen, Spence, Reid (Demel 59), McCartney (Nasha
59), Potts (Mavila 90), Noble (Bywater 59), Nolan (Morrison 59), Taylor,
Hall (O'Neil 33), Vaz Te (Mavila), Maynard (E.Lee 59)
Subs: Guzman, Girdlestone, Cullen

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Dev Squad defeated by Dynamo
WHUFC.com
The Development Squad were beaten 3-1 by host club Dynamo Moscow at the VTB
Lev Yashin Cup on Friday
14.07.2012

West Ham United's Development Squad will likely play-off for fifth place
after being defeated 3-1 by host club Dynamo Moscow in their second fixture
at the VTB Lev Yashin Cup in Russia. Having been beaten 2-0 by German side
Freiburg in their opening match on Thursday, Ian Hendon's side needed to win
to have any chance of reaching Sunday's final, but were edged out by Dynamo.
The Russian team, who were playing their first match in the competition and
were therefore fresher than their English visitors, went ahead through a
goal from Solamatin midway through the first half. The lead was then doubled
on 65 minutes when Otstavnovu shot past Jake Larkins.

To West Ham's credit, they did not give up the fight and pulled a goal back
with eleven minutes remaining when captain Eoin Wearen was fouled and George
Moncur tucked away the resultant penalty. Unfortunately, while the Hammers
pushed hard for an equaliser, Dynamo broke away and clinched their victory
when Zhivoglyadov scored with a minute to go. On Saturday, the squad enjoyed
a well-deserved break from match action and took a sight-seeing tour of
Moscow, visiting the Kremlin and Red Square.

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Under doctor's orders
WHUFC.com
Richard Weiler talks about his role as West Ham United's Club doctor
14.07.2012

West Ham United's players and staff are in good hands in the shape of Club
doctor Richard Weiler. The 'Doc', as he is universally known, is an expert
in sports and exercise medicine and deals with all things medical in
consultation with head of sports medicine Andy Rolls and head of
rehabilitation Stijn Vandenbroucke. Weiler, who will be the doctor for the
Team GB blind and cerebral palsy teams at the London 2012 Paralympic Games,
is also one of the country's leading researchers into sudden cardiac events
in sport. With such a varied and interesting role to play for Club and
country, West Ham TV sat down with the Doc to find out more.

Doc, what does your role as West Ham United's Club doctor entail?

RW - There are a lot of different aspects to the role and I work very
closely with the whole of the rest of the medical team. We have a great
support network. I look after any medical matters that fall outside the
realms of rehabilitation and physiotherapy. I do medicals, look after
anything medical that is wrong with the players and work very closely with
head of sports medicine Andy Rolls and head of rehab Stijn Vandenbroucke
with the management of injuries. I provide emergency medical cover and a
sounding board for the medical team on any aspects of science and
performance research that I can help with.

On a matchday, what would your role be?

RW - My job is basically to make sure that anybody who has a major injury or
suffers an illness gets the best available treatment as quickly as possible
to keep them healthy and playing and maintain their performance.

As a fully-qualified doctor, what did you do before joining West Ham United
and do you have any other important roles?

RW - I started off doing general practice and while I was doing that I
started focusing on sports medicine. At around the same time, the new
speciality of sport and exercise medicine was created and I decided to
launch into that feet-first and do specialist training. I carried on doing
the general practice and I still keep my hand in that now as it's very
important that I keep up with everything. I work with the Football
Association and look after the disability football squads - I'll be looking
after the two Team GB Paralympic squads at London 2012. That's very exciting
and very interesting. They are two great bunches of guys - the Blind and
Cerebral Palsy football teams. We managed to get some of the guys in to
train with West Ham last year, which was fantastic.

Are there any special precautions or situations you have to be mindful of in
a sporting environment - for example, if a player has a contagious illness?

RW - The players are all essentially the same as you and I in terms of what
we can do. A lot of what we do is about prevention, both in terms of sports
injuries and illness. It's about preventing small problems from becoming big
problems and making sure they are treated appropriately. Sometimes we have
to quarantine people if necessary and we have a lot of hygiene protocols to
prevent illness being passed from one person to another. Most of this
happens during the winter months, as you might expect.

When you or I get ill, we can take anything from a pharmacy to help us to
get better, but do players have to be mindful of what they put into their
bodies due to restrictions on controlled substances?

RW - By law, it is the players' responsibility for anything that enters
their bodies. I view my role as to guide and advise them so I get a lot of
texts and calls from them asking if they can take this, that or the other
medication. I ask them why they want to take it and decide if it is
appropriate. It can be a bit of a worry, especially with supplements. About
ten per cent of supplements are thought to have banned substances in them,
not necessarily because they are unhealthy, but because they are on the
banned list, so we have to be careful.

Finally, you have done a lot of research into the cause of sudden cardiac
events in football - a topic that has become widely documented and debated
since the collapse of Fabrice Muamba on the pitch in March 2012. What can
you tell us about that research?

RW - I have various interests academically. On the sports performance and
sports injury side I have done work looking at bone turnover in players and
a lot of work with the disability squads looking at various types of
mobility aids. I did a review paper recently in response to what happened to
Fabrice Muamba and various other recent horrible incidents looking at the
evidence and what we do and don't know and what we need to do to try to
reduce the risks of these things happening again. It is absolutely tragic
whenever anything like that happens. There are lots of tests that we do and
those tests are getting better and better as we learn more about sudden
cardiac events. Unfortunately, at the moment, there are still about 30 per
cent of these incidents that remain unexplained. These are very fit and very
healthy individuals. Over time, I would hope to see that figure improve
drastically. It is very sad that we're not quite there yet. Screening has
its limitations and when you work in medicine you realise that there are
very few tests that are 100 per cent specific. It's an interesting topic and
a developing area of interest.

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Southend Utd 0 West Ham Utd 3
KUMb.com
Filed: Saturday, 14th July 2012
By: Staff Writer

Sam Allardyce's side secured their first victory of pre-season with a
comfortable win against League Two Southend at Roots Hall this afternoon.
Goals from Nicky Maynard, Jordan Spence and Sam Baldock gave the visitors an
away day win against Paul Sturrock's experimental squad on a miserable day
in Essex. Having failed to win either of their opening two fixtures of
pre-season - after losing 3-1 against Austria Wien and drawing 1-1 at
Boreham Wood in midweek - the win was a welcome one. It was also thoroughly
enjoyed by the travelling Hammers fans who filled the away end plus had many
more supporters in the home stands. Of the official capacity of 7,135, at
least half were supporting Allaryce's side.

Having scored the opening goal after 22 minutes when Nicky Maynard nodded
home a Matt Taylor corner, the Hammers never looked like losing their lead.
Jordan Spence, who endured such a frustrating season last year on loan at
Bristol City made it 2-0 with a virtuoso effort 12 minutes later. And Sam
Baldock completed a comfortable win for the visitors on 64 minutes when he
pounced on a save by Shrimpers 'keeper Phil Smith to continue his record of
having scored in every game of pre-season.

West Ham Utd: Jussi Jaaskelainen, Jordan Spence, Winston Reid, George
McCartney, Dan Potts, Mark Noble, Kevin Nolan, Matt Taylor, Robert Hall,
Ricardo Vaz Te, Nicky Maynard

Subs: Gines Guzman, Guy Demel, Gary O'Neil, Ravel Morrison, Sam Baldock, Rob
Girdlestone, Nathan Mavilla, Josh Cullen, Amos Nasha, Kieran Bywater, Elliot
Lee

Southend Utd: Phil Smith, Sean Clohessy, Anthony Straker, Marc-Anto
Gbirsson, Ryan Cresswell, Chris Barker, Kevan Hurst, Kane Ferdinand, Neil
Harris, Gavin Tomlin, Tyrone Seally.

Subs: Ryan Leonard, Rhys Taylor, Mark Phillips, Graham Coughlan, Luke
Prosser, Yohan Folly, David Martin, Joe Yoffe, Elliot Benyon, Alex Woodyard,
Ryan Hall, Freddy Eastwood, Daniel Bentley.

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Sam Baldock Scores 3 in 3!
By S J Chandos
West Ham Till I Die

Sam Baldock scored his third pre-season goal, in a corresponding number of
matches, in yesterday's convincing 0-3 away win over Southend Utd. Maynard
scored the opening goal, with a well taken header from a Matt Taylor cross.
The second goal came from an impressive long range drive from Jordan Spence,
before an opportunistic third by Baldock wrapped iup a comprehensive
victory.

It was West Ham's first win of pre-season and was thoroughly enjoyed by the
large travelling contingent of Hammers supporters. The only negative was a
head injury to Danny Potts, after an accidential clash of heads. He was
stretched off, but hopefully that was just a precaution and he will be fine
for the rest of the pre-season programme. Contrary to strong pre-match
rumours, there was no run out for trialist, Colin Kasim-Richards. Also,
Carlton Cole was obviously rested to allow him to recover from the knock
picked up against Austria Wien.

The West Ham Utd FC line up was as follows:

Jaaskelainen, Spence, Reid, McCartney, Potts, Noble, Nolan, Taylor, Hall,
Vaz Te, Maynard

Subs: Guzman, Demel, O'Neil, Morrison, Baldock, Girdlestone, Mavilla,
Cullen, Nasha, KBywater, E. Lee

As a post-script, it was good to see both Robert Hall and Elliott Lee get
match time at Southend Utd. These are two of our very brightest Academy
prospects, who could reasonably be expected to establish themselves in the
first team squad, especially Hall, who Tony Carr has tipped to get much more
playing time in this coming season. We can only hope that, indeed, proves to
be the case.

SJ. Chandos.

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