Andy Carroll inspires West Ham to victory over Swansea

Andy Carroll's elation was unbridled. It all came tumbling out the moment when he knew his second battering ram of a header careered into the net. He ran like a man possessed all the way back to the halfway line, where Sam Allardyce was pumping his fist with a classic cat-who-got-the-cream expression all over his face.

West Ham won this battle of the surprise packages, and needed the character to come from a goal behind to do so. If their renaissance this season feels like it is owes so much to being liberated in attack, now Allardyce has the luxury of some fascinating choices at his disposal. Carroll, Diafra Sakho and Enner Valencia give him tantalising options.

They are back in the top four in the Premier League and maintained their momentum despite a false start. It had not started so promisingly when West Ham were caught by a precision Swansea break and chasing the game in the 19th minute.

The damage was created down the left flank, as Jefferson Montero raced upfield and exchanged passes beautifully with Gylfi Sigurdsson. The Ecuardorian trickster measured his pass to Wilfried Bony, who opened up his body to pass unerringly into the far corner of the goal.

Bony, who had been on Sam Allardyce’s radar some years ago (he plumped for Carroll instead) continues to stake his claim as perhaps the best striker outside of the Premier League’s super-rich. Just after the half hour mark he bludgeoned the ball with such power having tamed it with some neat control – on this occasion his effort swerved wide.

Swansea looked in the mood to be patient and wait for moments to flick into a higher gear. Montero was at the heart of it again as his pacy driving run opened the space for Sigurdsson to let fly. Adrian beat the ball away.

West Ham began to apply some pressure late in the first half. Aaron Cresswell saw a header gathered by Lukasz Fabiankski, and when the visitors did briefly lose their composure – their two centre-backs, Ashley Williams and Kyle Bartley got in a muddle – Kevin Nolan’s shot ricocheted away.

Allardyce’s team persevered, and were rewarded when Carl Jenkinson’s cross was delivered with whip and accuracy, and Carroll did what he does best. A header thumped with power and direction arced over everyone in the box and into the far corner of the net.

For all the speed and verve that has been a hallmark of West Ham’s progressive season, this was an old fashioned goal with the signature of an old fashioned player. It meant a lot to Carroll, who had not savoured that scoring feeling in the Premier League since March.

Crosses whipped in by full backs seemed a promising approach. Cresswell bounded forward to whiz the ball to the lurking Carroll. It did not quite come off but demonstrated how West Ham were trying to mix their game up to have the variation of smart, zippy and direct.

Back came Swansea. Bony’s thunderous drive smacked the crossbar. But a couple of intense minutes midway through the second half transformed the balance of the game. Leon Britton experienced the full force of the Carroll heading machine, when he attempted to stop another effort from the big man at a corner. No chance. Frankly he was quite brave getting in the way of it. Carroll’s header from Stuart Downing’s corner gave West Ham the lead.

Two minutes later, West Ham were buoyant and Carroll’s pearl of a ball to Sakho invited all sorts of trouble for Swansea. There was a question about whether Sakho used his arm to control the ball but when Fabianski had a rush of crazy blood and ambled five yards out of his area to check Sakho, it seemed academic. Chris Foy sent off the goalkeeper.

Sakho was full of thrills throughout the second half. He speared the Swansea defence and struck the woodwork. Then he sealed the game with a wonderstrike. The assist? Carroll of course.

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