Hammers

By: timmyg | October 5th, 2009

A thrilling match overshadowed by a temper tantrum and a stomach punch.

The tantrum was Scott Parker’s reaction to the yellow card he received after instigating an altercation with The Evidence. The photo is here, and resulted in The Evidence being sent off and Fulham playing better for the remainder of the match despite being down to 10 men.

After waiting all afternoon to catch the match, the otherwise stalwart FSC feed on TVU was down. So I can only rely on what I saw on MOTD2.

What stood out most was Parker’s reaction to being booked. Sure, The Evidence needs to be held accountable for stroking Pretty-boy Parker’s face. But there’s no reason Parker should get the lesser punishment — even hockey (all things considered, the most violent sport) realizes this dynamic, and punishes all fight instigators with additional penalty minutes. Or, if the instigator wasn’t involved in the actual fight, they can still receive a penalty. Even if he truly felt he was innocent, Parker’s petulant reaction surely deserved a booking itself. Not since Ronaldo’s antics last March at the Cottage has a footballer acted like a child and not been punished.

So did anyone who watched the match recall if Parker had been chippy or vocal with The Evidence’s before the altercation? It would make sense for a jerk like him to get in a rookie’s head, and then hope he would snap and get sent off. Or send me the tape and I’ll check it out and report back.

After roaring back to life from another set-piece concession, Fulham were leading 2-1 – thanks to Zoltan Gera’s resurrection from the dead now complete and Danny Murphy with another timely penalty – and heading into an inexplicable 4 minutes of stoppage time. Then in the dying seconds Junior Stanislas’ shot deflects off Aaron Hughes and ties up the match and punches the stomach of each and every Fulham fan with a devastating haymaker.

But according to the MOTD2 statisticians, something in the match had to give. With Fulham and Blackburn, Roy Hodgson has never beaten West Ham. West Ham had yet to get a point at home this season. Fulham have yet to get a point off West Ham since Jan. 2007 and haven’t beaten them since 2001. West Ham had lost every time Carlton Cole scored.

So maybe a draw was an expected result?

Boo, another international break is upon us. Fulham return in two weeks against Hull City. Despite last year’s ridiculousness against the Tigers, I fully expect 3 points.