West Ham scrape past Coventry
Curbishley keeps his side's Carling Cup campaign alive
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Tuesday, 30, Oct 2007 11:17
West Ham made it through to the Carling Cup quarter-finals after a last-minute winner secured a 2-1 win over Championship side Coventry.
Striker Carlton Cole struck in the dying seconds of injury time to deliver a killer blow to the home side's hopes of progressing and allow the Hammers off the hook after a slow start at the Ricoh Arena.
Alan Curbishley's men hardly looked a division superior to their opponents in the opening half and were flustered by the hosts' high-tempo style of play.
But in truth neither side looked particularly dangerous in the final third and early on the best chances arrived courtesy of defensive mistakes.
First West Ham's Anton Ferdinand allowed Leon Best too much space in the box and was only spared further embarrassment by a solid stop from Richard Wright.
At the other end Ben Turner failed to make a proper connection with a clearance kick giving Luis Boa Morte a brief sight of goal before a mob of defenders descended to crowd him out.
However Coventry began the second half the stronger and took a deserved lead when Jay Tabb's far-post run was picked out by a precise cross from Isaac Osbourne.
Their advantage was short-lived however as a shot from Boa Morte found its way into the back of the net via deflections off Kevin Kyle and Marcus Hall just three minutes later.
Both sides had chances before the dramatic climax with Cole holding off Turner's flimsy challenge and slotting past goalkeeper Andy Marshall.