Hammers fall victim to Bolton’s hoodoo (From Echo)

Hammers fall victim to Bolton’s hoodoo

11:32am Monday 23rd August 2010 in

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AVRAM Grant insisted he was "very happy" with West Ham's performance despite seeing them crash to a 3-1 defeat at home to bogey team Bolton.

The Hammers, beaten 3-0 at Aston Villa last week, now head into Barclays Premier League fixtures against Manchester United and Chelsea rooted in the bottom three without a single point.

Bolton weathered a first-half storm — including a missed penalty from Hammers striker Carlton Cole — before snatching the lead with a Matthew Upson own goal.

Johan Elmander wrapped up the points with strikes either side of a Mark Noble penalty as Bolton extended their winning run over West Ham to seven matches.

West Ham were booed from the field and they could conceivably head into the game against Stoke on September 18 without a point on the board.

Hammers manager Grant said: “We have a very tough two games. If you saw the spirit today after the game last week, this team this season is not going to give up.

“I am happy how players responded. The defence was good, we pushed forward, we played high, we created a lot of chances.

“On the football side everything went well. We played like a team at the top. I am very happy with the performance, I am very disappointed with the result.

“It was a strange game.”

Grant insisted Upson was pushed by striker Kevin Davies in the process of scoring the own goal that gave Bolton the upper hand.

Upson seemed to stoop to head the ball past Robert Green - and in the process he received a boot in the face from Davies and had to go off.

“There was a clear foul on the first goal. We know they play direct ball — Matthew was in the right place, he was before Davies who pushed him. The referee needs to be more awake,” said Grant.

“He smashed his face. He cannot have an x-ray now.”