Burnley 2-1 West Ham United: Debutant Danny Fox Adds To Gianfranco Zola's Woes

West Ham United were left wondering what might have been after they went down to defeat at Burnley after their old problems continued to haunt Gianfranco Zola’s side, namely finishing. With only new signing Ilan giving the Hammers some sort of belief against the home side who maintained their dominance from the start.

Burnley started the game brightly with the front pair of David Nugent and Steven Fletcher showing the Hammers defence no sort of respect. They were rewarded for their efforts when a long ball from Burnley new boy Danny Fox was allowed to bounce by Matthew Upson, leaving Nugent with the simple task of placing the ball past Robert Green to give the home side a deserved lead.

They failed to capitalise on that early advantage, allowing the London side to come back into the clash, with the Hammers front line spearheaded by up until halfway through the first half, the ineffectual Benni McCarthy. He eventually showed the Hammers fans why they purchased him when he went on a good run, but could not find anyone of his teammates looking to help finish the cross he put into the box.

West Ham maintained the pressure upon their hosts, with a Jack Collison shot being cleared by Fox after the ball took a deflection. The Hammers strikeforce of McCarthy and Cole continued to pile on to the Burnley defence, this ultimately left them scrambling to make sure than they maintained their lead during the game.

Gianfranco Zola must have felt his side had got back on level terms when creative midfielder Scott Parker burst through the home defence and then played new boy McCarthy in, he then rounded Clarets keeper Brian Jensen who had centre half Leon Cort to thank after the defender managed to clear the ball off the line to keep Burnley ahead in the fixture.
The home side got back into the game after that scare and dominated the final minutes, with Wade Elliott coming close with a shot that Green just about managed to deal with.

The Hammers were forced into making a substitution for the second half, with McCarthy having to be replaced by fellow new boy Mido, after the South African picked up a knee injury when he raced round Jensen in the late stages of the first half.

Mido made an impact for his new team straight away, coming close to scoring after fellow frontman Carlton Cole had managed to thread a cross over to the Egyptian, who was unlucky not to mark his debut with a goal.

While it was the Hammers new boys that were expected to be involved in the scoring, it was actually one of the Burnley new boys that would extend the home sides lead. When Fox scored with an exceptional free kick after Collison had given away a set piece, needlessly. That left West Ham keeper Green with no chance and left Zola searching for answers.

They nearly halved the lead after just 60 second when Cole found Parker with a ball that the midfielder rattled towards the goal, only to see Jensen palm the ball wide for a corner which the visitor could not capitalise on.

West Ham came even closer to cutting Burnley’s lead when Julien Faubert whipped in a dangerous cross which was headed by Parker to James Tomkins who nodded goalwards. The ball was finally nudged into the net by Cole who was adjudged by the assistant referee to be offside.

They came close again, when substitute Junior Stanislas hit a free kick similar to that which Burnley scored with, but the youngster was left disappointed when he seen the ball smack off of Jensen’s bar and out for a goal kick.
Zola, who was looking at his side being, dragged back into the bottom three decided to go for broke by taking off midfielder Mark Noble and handing a debut to another one of his deadline signings, Brazilian striker Ilan.
 
That change was to help Zola, when the Brazilian Ilan managed to prod home with his first touch; with ten minutes remaining after both Cole and Mido had failed to penetrate from close in. This helped to charge a new sense of belief into the visitors as they looked to snatch a point from their visit north.

They continued to pound at the Burnley defence, backed by a large travelling support, who were unfortunate not to see an equaliser, when Ilan got on the end of corner, but was left disappointed when he seen the ball turned wide for another corner.

Mido was next to see an effort hit off the woodwork, when he had looked to have got West Ham back on level terms as the game went into injury time. That was following by a Jonathan Spector shot which went wide and left the Hammers leaving Turf Moor with nothing.