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Dan Coker's Match Preview

Preview: Swansea City

Blast from the past

Christmas Eve 1955 – Dickie Valentine was number one with ‘Christmas Alphabet’ and another Dickie, West Ham United’s John Dick, was amongst the goals in a 5-1 victory over this weekend’s opponents Swansea City (or Swansea Town as they were known then) in front of 15,857 at the Boleyn Ground.

Dick signed for the Hammers in the summer of 1953, later recalling: “Arthur Rowe and Bill Nicholson [Tottenham’s manager and first-team coach respectively at the time] drove to my mother’s house in Glasgow to offer me a professional contract, but I had already agreed to join the Hammers. The Spurs people were not too happy about that after such a long journey but I didn’t fancy Spurs. Ted Fenton had got in first, so I became a West Ham player – something I never had any cause to regret”. Dick, it seems, was on the road to becoming a Hammers legend before he had even kicked a ball for the club!

Dick went on to score 166 goals in 351 league and cup appearances, placing him joint third with Jimmy Ruffell in the list of the Hammers’ all-time top goalscorers. Only Vic Watson and Sir Geoff Hurst have scored more. He departed for Brentford in September 1962 and went on to manage West Ham Juniors. Dick died in 2000 at the age of 70.

Dick was joined on the scoresheet that Christmas Eve afternoon by Harry Hooper, Billy Dare, John Bond and Ken Tucker. The Hammers would finish 16th in the Second Division in 1955/56, while Swansea would end the campaign in 10th.

West Ham United: Ernie Gregory, John Bond, Malcolm Allison, Noel Cantwell, Frank O’Farrell, Andy Malcolm, Harry Hooper, Billy Dare, Ken Tucker, Brian Moore, John Dick.

Club Connections

A small number of players have worn the shirts of both West Ham United and Swansea City. These include: Lee Chapman, Andy Melville, Frank Lampard Junior, Shaun Byrne, Frank Nouble and Noel Dwyer. John Bond also represented both clubs, playing for the Hammers and managing the Swans.

Today’s focus though is on a homegrown Hammers product who returned from a short stint at Swansea to kickstart his Upton Park career. Matthew Rush was a right-winger who came through the Academy at West Ham United. He made his debut as a 19-year-old under Billy Bonds in a 7-1 victory over Hull in October 1990, a game famous for Steve Potts’ solitary Hammers’ strike. Bonzo’s boys achieved promotion at the end of that season, a campaign which also saw Rush pick up Under-21 international honours for the Republic of Ireland, for whom he qualified through his Irish mother. He scored his first goals for the Hammers in April 1992, a double in a 4-0 win over Norwich, but the Hammers would ultimately yo-yo back to the second tier. Rush endured a testing two-year period when it appeared his Hammers career was fading and dying. His only appearances in the promotion campaign of 1992/93 came in the now-defunct Anglo-Italian Cup and he had a spell on loan at Cambridge United towards the end of that season.

Rush remained out in the cold as the Hammers set about establishing themselves in their first season in the Premier League. He joined Swansea City for a two-month loan spell in January 1994 and played 13 matches, helping them to the semi-finals of the Autoglass Trophy (now known as the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy). He was handed a surprise start by Bonds on Easter Saturday 1994 against Ipswich at Upton Park and scored a stunning, dipping volley from distance to put the Irons on their way to a 2-1 victory, their first win since New Year’s Day (you can watch this goal in the video below, although the video’s creator is a season out in claiming it was scored in 1994/95). Rush signed a three-year contract that summer, rejecting overtures from Kevin Keegan’s upwardly-mobile Newcastle United. He found opportunities increasingly sparse under Harry Redknapp in 1994/95 but did score in successive matches in October 1994, a 2-0 win over Southampton and a 3-1 defeat at Tottenham. His searing pace also played a major part in a barnstorming 2-0 victory over champions-in-waiting Blackburn Rovers, Rush streaking away from Colin Hendry late on to lay on a cross which led to Don Hutchison sealing the points in the Hammers’ ultimately successful quest for survival.

Having scored 5 goals in 48 league appearances for West Ham, Rush was sold to Norwich in the summer of 1995 for £350,000. On his debut for the Canaries, against Sunderland, he badly ruptured his knee. He sought to gain fitness in a loan spell at Northampton and eventually joined Oldham in March 1997 having made just three appearances for Norwich in his 18 months at Carrow Road. Rush sustained cruciate ligament damage in a match against Carlisle in April 1998 and was forced to retire from the game at the age of just 27. He is now a sports scientist.

Referee

Sunday’s referee will be Chris Foy; the Liverpool-based official has been taking charge of Premier League fixtures since 2001. Since West Ham United achieved promotion back to the top flight in 2012 Foy has refereed six of our league matches, officiating in no wins, three draws and three defeats for the Hammers. He has been the man in the middle twice for the Irons already this season, against Tottenham in the 1-0 loss at Upton Park and the 2-2 draw at Stoke.

Possible line-ups

Sam Allardyce should have summer signing sensations Diafra Sakho and Alex Song back in the squad after injury. Neither has turned out in claret and blue since the goalless draw with Aston Villa a month ago and, as with Enner Valencia at West Brom in midweek, Sam Allardyce may decide to introduce both from the bench rather than risk further injury with the busy festive schedule just around the corner. Song is the likelier starter, with Mark Noble still struggling. Kevin Nolan scored on his return to the starting XI at The Hawthorns and could be rewarded by retaining his place against a side he bagged a brace against in the corresponding fixture last season. West Ham could field their two most expensive signings, Valencia and Andy Carroll, up front together for the first time. James Tomkins is one yellow card away from a one-match suspension. With Southampton and Manchester United not playing each other until Monday night, the Hammers could go third with victory on Sunday.

Swansea City will be without suspended left-back Neil Taylor who picked up his fifth booking of the season in the midweek victory over QPR. Fellow defender Federico Fernandez may also be sidelined with a calf injury. Taylor could be replaced by 20-year-old Stephen Kingsley who is yet to make his Premier League debut for the club but has 92 appearances for Falkirk under his belt. Alternatively, Spanish centre-half Jordi Amat could move across to cover for Taylor. Angel Rangel and Jonjo Shelvey were rested in midweek and could return in place of Ashley Richards and Leon Britton respectively.

Possible West Ham United XI: Adrian; Jenkinson, Tomkins, Reid, Cresswell; Song, Kouyate, Nolan; Downing; Valencia, Carroll.

Possible Swansea City XI: Fabianski; Rangel, Williams, Bartley, Amat; Shelvey, Ki; Routledge, Sigurdsson, Montero; Bony.

Enjoy the game – Up The Hammers!

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