West Ham 3 Luton Town 1
David Moyes had brought the glory days back to East London last season as they won a European trophy. After the final, the Scottish manager was revered like a god but The Hammers fans and owners have turned on him this season like he had sold Jarrod Bowen for a pound in the summer.
They welcomed Luton Town to the London Stadium on the back of announcing that club and manager would be parting company at the end of the season. Rob Edwards’ side were at that stage of the season where survival was seeming like some Mission Impossible sequel.
However, they got off to a great start when Doughty lifted a cross into the box to find the head of the onrushing Lokonga, who headed home to give The Hatters an early lead. What a time to get your first goal for the club for the Arsenal loanee.
He almost went from hero to zero when he gave the ball away in his own half. Paqueta gratefully accepted the gift and crossed from the left to find Bowen. His volley crashed against the outside of the post and went wide. So close to an equaliser for the hosts.
Credit: @LutonTown
West Ham struggled to create chances in the first half and it had become deafly quiet as the home supporters started to make voodoo dolls and effigies of David Moyes in the stands. Luton could use this to their advantage to try and get a much-needed win in the capital.
All that came to an abrupt end as a reoccurring theme then resurfaced. The visitors struggled to clear their lines and the ball broke to Ward Prowse on the edge of the box, who drilled a shot into the bottom corner to break down the visitors’ resistance.
You just cannot get away with defending like a load of eight year olds playing in the school playground on their lunch break at this level. The Hammers almost scored again as Kudus put a cross on the head of Antonio but Kaminski managed to claw the ball out.
West Ham were piling on the pressure and another goal seemed imminent. Ward Prowse’s cross was half-cleared and Soucek produced a sublime volley from the edge of the box to give David Moyes’ side the lead for the first time in the game.
Luton had to throw everything they had forward in search of an equaliser. As the hosts picked them off on the counter-attack, Bowen played it into the path of Kudus with the goal at his mercy. Somehow, he managed to put his shot wide when a West Ham third seemed certain.
He managed to make up for this glaring miss moments later as he got to the byline and cut it back for Earthy to tuck it home at the near post. It was the youngster’s first Hammers goal in only his third appearance for the first team.
Credit: @WestHam
The defeat has almost certainly condemned Rob Edwards’ side to relegation. While they are only three points behind Nott’m Forest, they would need something like a 12-0 win on the final day to address their goal difference to stay up.
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