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On This Day, 5th April: Swansea Smashed, Burnley Beaten & Happy Birthday Der Hammer

Swansea 1-5 West Ham, 5th April 1983

Tuesday 5th April 1983 – David Bowie was number one with ‘Let’s Dance’, Gandhi topped the UK box office and West Ham United were enjoying their second of seven wins from their final ten fixtures of 1982/83. Two midfielders in claret and blue grabbed a double apiece in a 5-1 victory over Swansea City in front of 13,303 at the Vetch Field.

Ian Walsh gave John Toshack’s Swans a second-minute lead but the Hammers were 2-1 up at the break through goals from the inspirational Alan Devonshire and Geoff Pike. Pike notched his second in the second half, his only two-goal salvo for the Irons in his 372 appearances. Alan Dickens (pictured) also bagged a second half brace to make it five goals in his first nine appearances for the club.

John Lyall’s Hammers would finish eighth in the First Division in 1982/83, while Swansea would end the campaign in 22nd and were relegated.

Swansea City: Chris Sander, Nigel Stevenson, Gary Richards, Ante Rajkovic, Dudley Lewis, Gary Stanley, Chris Marustik, Robbie James, James Loveridge, Ian Walsh (Darren Gale), Bob Latchford.

West Ham United: Phil Parkes, Ray Stewart, Billy Bonds, Alvin Martin, Frank Lampard, Alan Dickens, Neil Orr, Geoff Pike, Alan Devonshire, Paul Goddard, Francois van der Elst.

Burnley 0-1 West Ham, 5th April 2005

5th April 2005: Prime Minister Tony Blair asked the Queen for a dissolution of Parliament for a general election on 5th May, Tony Christie featuring Peter Kay was at the top of the charts with ‘(Is This The Way To) Amarillo’ and The Ring Two topped the UK box office. Meanwhile, West Ham United completed their second away victory in three days following a 2-0 weekend win at Wigan.

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In front of 12,209 at Turf Moor in this midweek encounter, Ade Akinbiyi wasted Burnley’s best chance of the first half after heading wide of the target. Hammers forward Teddy Sheringham fired just wide before a mistake let the Irons in to seal the three points with the game’s only goal. With seven minutes to go, a loose pass allowed Marlon Harewood to round the goalkeeper and square for Sheringham to calmly stroke home the winner three days after his 39th birthday. The veteran would be voted Hammer of the Year a few weeks later, with a teenaged Mark Noble runner-up. The goal from this match can be viewed in my video below.

Burnley would close the season in 13th position, while the Hammers would finish in sixth place and be promoted via the Play-Offs; Sunderland won the Championship title, Chelsea won the Premier League and Arsenal won the FA Cup. Marlon Harewood was the Irons’ top scorer with 22 goals from 54 matches.

Burnley: Danny Coyne, Frank Sinclair (Tony Grant), John McGreal, Gary Cahill, Mo Camara, John Oster (Jean-Louis Valois), Micah Hyde, James O’Connor, Graham Branch (Michael Duff), Ade Akinbiyi, Dean Bowditch.

West Ham United: Jimmy Walker, Tomas Repka, Anton Ferdinand, Elliott Ward, Chris Powell, Shaun Newton, Hayden Mullins (Carl Fletcher), Nigel Reo-Coker, Mark Noble (Matthew Etherington), Marlon Harewood (Bobby Zamora), Teddy Sheringham.

Happy 38th Birthday Thomas Hitzlsperger

Thomas Hitzlsperger was born in Munich on 5th April 1982 but began his professional career in England with Aston Villa in the 2000/01 season, making his full international debut for Germany in a 2-0 friendly victory in Iran in September 2004. After 110 appearances for Villa, the central midfielder moved to VfB Stuttgart in 2005 on a Bosman free transfer.

Hitzlsperger netted his first international goals in a 13-0 European Championship qualifying win in San Marino in September 2006, just a few months after appearing for Germany at the World Cup in his home country. The fluent English speaker was a central figure in Joachim Low’s squad at the 2008 European Championships, starting all three knockout fixtures as Germany finished as runners-up to Spain. After four and a half years back in his native Germany, and one Bundesliga title in 2006/07, he joined Italian side Lazio on a six-month contract in January 2010.

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Hitzlsperger, nicknamed ‘Der Hammer’ due to his ferocious shooting ability with his left foot, became Avram Grant’s first signing at West Ham United in June 2010. He had to wait eight months for his first competitive start after being sidelined with a thigh injury in pre-season training but scored on his long-awaited debut, a trademark bullet of a strike from 25 yards in the 5-1 FA Cup fifth-round win over Eddie Howe’s Burnley at the Boleyn Ground on 21st February 2011. Hitzlsperger’s right-wing corner also created the fourth goal, the inswinging cross headed home by Winston Reid for his first Hammers goal. A similarly thunderous strike led to Hitzlsperger’s first league goal for the Hammers, smashing in a loose ball to round off the scoring in the 3-0 home win over Stoke on 5th March 2011. He also slammed in a 20-yard equaliser in the 1-1 home draw against Blackburn on 7th May 2011. After 13 appearances for West Ham United and three goals, Hitzlsperger’s contract was terminated following the Hammers’ relegation to the Championship and he signed for VfL Wolfsburg in the summer of 2011. My video below shows all three of Der Hammer’s goals for the Hammers.

After one season, he returned to England and joined Everton in mid-October 2012 on a short-term deal lasting until the end of the following January, which was extended until the end of the 2012/13 campaign. In September 2013, aged 31 and following his release from Everton during the summer, Hitzlsperger announced his retirement from football citing the strain of “many transfers and some injuries”. He had won 52 caps for Germany, scoring six goals. Hitzlsperger, who turns 38 today, became the most high-profile footballer to date to come out as gay in January 2014.

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