West Ham 4-0 Wolves, 5th May 1990
Saturday 5th May 1990, exactly 30 years ago today – eleven days before the deaths of American entertainers Sammy Davis Jr and Jim Henson, Madonna was number one with ‘Vogue’ and Look Who’s Talking topped the UK box office as West Ham United rounded off the 1989/90 season with a 4-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers in front of 22,509 at the Boleyn Ground.
The pre-match presentations for this final game of the campaign saw Trevor Morley voted in third place of the Hammer of the Year running, with Stuart Slater runner-up and captain Julian Dicks claiming the award for the first time. Liam Brady was also recognised by chairman Martin Cearns before the last game of a career which had taken in Arsenal, Juventus, Sampdoria, Inter Milan, Ascoli and, since March 1987, West Ham United. He had also won 72 caps for the Republic of Ireland.
The Hammers opened the scoring in the 18th minute – a move involving Steve Potts, Stuart Slater, Martin Allen and Kevin Keen ended with Allen dinking in a cross from the right for Keen to nod home a brave diving header against the club he would go on to join three years later. It was Keen’s 13th goal of the season. The Irons doubled their advantage six minutes before half-time – another move down the right involved Keen, Potts and Stewart Robson with Potts evading a two-footed lunge to cross for Morley (pictured below) to net a second diving header of the afternoon and his tenth of the campaign.
The second half saw the Hammers’ ex-Arsenal midfield men come to the fore. First Robson broke from midfield to fire in the third with a blistering strike into the far corner from distance just two minutes after the interval – it was his only goal of an injury-hit campaign. Then, right at the end of the game, substitute Brady picked up the ball after good work from Tony Gale and a neat pass from Robson, and advanced to the edge of the Wolves penalty area before unleashing an unstoppable drive to bring down the curtain appropriately on a superb career. He was engulfed by delirious supporters in the then-customary end-of-season pitch invasion. My video below shows the presentations and goals from this game, as well as an interview with manager Billy Bonds.
Bonds’ Hammers would finish the 1989/90 Second Division season in seventh place, with Wolves ending up in tenth position. Leeds topped the Second Division, Liverpool won the title and Manchester United won the FA Cup.
West Ham United: Ludek Miklosko, Steve Potts, Colin Foster, Tony Gale, Julian Dicks, Kevin Keen (Liam Brady), Martin Allen, Stewart Robson, Stuart Slater, Trevor Morley (Jimmy Quinn), Leroy Rosenior.
West Ham 3-1 Bolton, 5th May 2007
5th May 2007, exactly 13 years ago today: West Ham met Bolton at the Boleyn Ground, Beyonce featuring Shakira was number one with ‘Beautiful Liar’ and Next topped the UK box office.
Future Hammers boss Sam Allardyce had just left Bolton, leaving Sammy Lee to take charge of his first match for the Trotters. Jussi Jaaskelainen and Kevin Nolan were both in Lee’s starting line-up and would of course go on to represent West Ham later in their careers, while future Hammer Ricardo Vaz Te would also make an appearance from the bench.
The Hammers started brightly in front of a crowd of 34,404, with Hammer of the Year Carlos Tevez curling home a delightful free-kick after just nine minutes. It was 2-0 just over ten minutes later when Mark Noble released Luis Boa Morte who squared unselfishly for Tevez to tap home his second and send Upton Park into raptures. The Argentine then delivered a perfect cross to the back post for the onrushing Noble to thunder home a volley beyond the aforementioned Jaaskelainen to put the Irons three up with less than half an hour played. Tevez is pictured below, celebrating his second goal.
The second half saw Bolton score a consolation when the late Gary Speed beat Robert Green with a left-foot shot in the 67th minute. It was a third successive win for the Hammers and took them out of the relegation zone for the first time since December; the goals from this match can be viewed on the WHTID social media pages. The Irons went on to secure their survival with a victory at Old Trafford against champions Manchester United the following weekend.
Alan Curbishley’s Hammers went on to finish the 2006/07 season in 15th place, while Bolton ended up seventh. Bobby Zamora would end the campaign as the Irons’ top goalscorer with 11 goals from 37 appearances. Tevez was voted Hammer of the Year with Zamora runner-up. Manchester United won the First Division title and Chelsea won the FA Cup.
West Ham United: Robert Green, Lucas Neill, Anton Ferdinand, James Collins, George McCartney, Yossi Benayoun, Nigel Reo-Coker (Hayden Mullins), Mark Noble, Luis Boa Morte (Jonathan Spector), Carlos Tevez, Bobby Zamora (Marlon Harewood).
Bolton Wanderers: Jussi Jaaskelainen, Ivan Campo, Abdoulaye Meite, Lubomir Michalik, Ricardo Gardner (Stelios Giannakopoulos), David Thompson (James Sinclair), Gary Speed, Andranik Teymourian (Ricardo Vaz Te), Kevin Nolan, Nicolas Anelka, Kevin Davies.