Red-faced, red-necked and red-blooded, red is the colour of the Premiership this season, and in keeping with that theme the red shirts of Middlesbrough triumphed over the white away strip of West Ham United yesterday, but only after the referee Uriah Rennie had waved yet another red card, the 15th of the English league weekend.
In this case it was fully justified, goalkeeper Shaka Hislop handling a Hamilton Ricard lob a couple of yards outside the West Ham area in the 28th minute. Even so, Rennie's correct decision there was rather lost in the fury created by Harry Redknapp afterwards about a previous Rennie judgement.
Ten entertaining minutes had elapsed, during which Juninho played with playground abandon and John Moncur shivered a post with an inventive volley, when Paolo Di Canio took on Gary Pallister in the Middlesbrough area. Di Canio sent Pallister the wrong way with a tricky jink, but as he went past the tall defender his legs were removed from under him. It was a blatant penalty to all except Rennie, barely 10 yards away. Even Bryan Robson concurred.
That was only part of why Redknapp was so incensed. Having not given a penalty Rennie then booked Di Canio for diving. It was just what Redknapp had warned would happen following West Ham's last game with Arsenal, when Di Canio was at the centre of Patrick Vieira's dismissal.
Arsene Wenger complained long and loud about that and yesterday Redknapp blamed "Wenger's big mouth" for Di Canio's booking.
Combined with Hislop's exit, the two incidents changed a game West Ham were shading. In fact, even after being reduced to 10 men the Hammers still retained the courage to go forward boldly. Yet once Brian Deane put Boro ahead seven minutes into the second half the visitors were travelling goalward in hope rather than expectation.
They had no choice, of course, and the inevitable gaps at the back could have been exploited to an embarrassing degree had Middlesbrough possessed the werewithal to do so. Alun Armstrong's 88thminute second at least guaranteed Boro their win, only their second since mid-August.
Whether their downward development has been arrested is another matter, although a central midfield trio of Paul Ince, Christian Ziege and Juninho should offer plenty of optimism. Juninho shone in flashes yesterday, the first coming after only 60 seconds when he sliced open the West Ham backline with a pass that Ricard stroked wide. It was the beginning of an unfulfilling afternoon for the Colombian.
Thankfully for Ricard and his teammates Ince was in the mood against his first club and it was from his 30-yard shot that Boro took the lead. Forrest tipped the ball on to the crossbar but the rebound fell to Deane who, with an open net 10 yards in front of him, managed to hit the crossbar. Luckily for Deane, it was the underside.
West Ham's response was to continue taking the game to Middlesbrough and with 20 minutes to go Di Canio spun, shot and saw his effort slide narrowly wide. And after some near misses by the home side it was left to Armstrong, who had come on for Ricard, to bundle in the second from close range.
MIDDLESBROUGH: Schwarzer, Fleming, Vickers, Pallister, Cooper, O'Neill, Ince, Juninho, Ziege, Ricard (Armstrong 59), Deane. Subs not used: Beresford, Campbell, Summerbell, Gavin. Goals: Deane 51, Armstrong 88.
WEST HAM UNITED: Hislop, Sinclair, Ferdinand, Stimac, Ruddock, Keller (Cole 74), Lampard, Lomas, Moncur (Forrest 27), Wanchope, Di Canio. Subs not used: Potts, Carrick, Margas. Sent Off: Hislop (26). Booked: Di Canio, Ruddock.
Referee: U Rennie (Sheffield).
