Dublin Hammers - Club Meetings 2007 - 2008
Dublin Hammers Meeting - 26th May, 2008
DUBLIN HAMMERS AGM.
The main topics (from the 'shortest' AGM in living memory) were that the Season Ticket use went really well last season, with all but a couple of games being attended by club members! It was decided that one committee member should be in charge of the season ticket, overseeing its use and distribution. Secondly, the experiment of members getting their own flights for the last trip of the season, didn’t work out, so from now on all flights will be part of the package, as previously done.
It was also noted that the attendance for some of the televised game wasn’t good!
The new committee was voted in, and for the coming season we have a Travel Secretary! This is a difficult job, and it was noted that members can sometimes take alot for granted, members were asked to please show some respect!
Finally, thanks to all comittee members for the hard work and time they put into the club!
Dublin Hammers Meeting - 16th February, 2008
MANCHESTER UTD 4 vs WEST HAM 1.
No report from this meeting.
Dublin Hammers Meeting - 22nd May, 2008
EVERTON 1 vs WEST HAM 1.
A well attended meeting saw the hammers start slowly, but finish the better side! Tomkins had an interesting initial 10 minutes on his first start for the 1st team, within minutes he had hit the bar with header, then missed a header and was muscled out of it by Yakubu who went on the score! Things went from bad to worse as shortly after Yakubu scored a good goal... thankfully it was given off-side, the replay suggested we were fortunate!
Aston should have equalised after a mix up in the Everton defence, but his shot was hit into the ground and went wide.
After half time Curbs brought on another youngster, Sears, the scorer of last weeks winner against Blackburn. With the headless chicken that is RigorMotis off, Aston had a more effective partner. As the half went on we started to cause Everton more and more problems, with Sears being a real thorn! Then Aston equalised with a great header from Niell’s cross.
The exitement levels rose and a rowdy rendition of ‘Deano’ followed. As the game drew to a close, Sears came close as he raced onto a pass, slipped it past the onrushing Howard, only to see his shot rebound off the post and cleared. In the end, a fair result. Expect whinging from Everton fans about the disallowed goal! To the guests we had over from the UK, hope you enjoyed watching the game with us and that you enjoyed the rest of your weekend in Dublin!
Dublin Hammers Meeting - 16th February, 2008
MANCHESTER CITY vs WEST HAM FA Cup 3rd Rd Replay.
A good little meeting this one, I only made it with for the second half with children in tow, thanks to Liam for making them welcome! It was a great second half, with the score at half time 1-1, after a wonder goal by Cole and a dodgy reply from City. We were all over them ‘like a rash’ how we didn’t score at least twice I’m not too sure... we deserved it!
Dublin Hammers Meeting - 28th December, 2007
WEST HAM 2 vs MANCHESTER UTD 1.
Great match, great result... crap attendance? Members were up for this one and plenty of singing and wise cracks! Was glad to see that Tevez got a good reception from the West Ham fans. We started well and missed an excellent chance to take the lead. We had the better of the posession but it was the Mancs who opened the scoring as they broke against the run of play and Ronaldo scored with his head after a great crossing by Giggs. That quietened things down a little, but the Hammers slowly picked it up again and Solano was unlucky not to equalise with a curling shot which was tipped over at full stretch!
So half time came and went, sandwiches were consumed! Then Spector, for some reason, sticks his arm out and gives away a penalty. Ronaldo steps up and promptly shoots wide! That seemed to spur the West Ham side on, noise levels rose at Upton Park as well as in Branighans! We stepped up the pressure and low and behold they wilted to pressure. Ferdinand scored from Noble’s corner... que mayhem... and a rousing rendition of “we never score from corners”. Then 5 minutes later, from another set piece, Upson scored a beaut, again from a header... que more mayhem... we hung on for the last few minutes... we sang bubbles... we cheered at the final whistle! A good meeting... where were you?
Dublin Hammers Meeting - 26th December, 2007
WEST HAM 1 vs READING 1.
With 10 minutes to go before kick-off, there was only one member present! Fortunately, by the time the game was under way a few more had turned up. In a near empty pub we watched a scrappy performance, with Solano’s goal the highlight of the first half, coming after Reading had had a man sent off for a two footed tackle. In the second half it was West Ham who looked like they were playing with the 10 men? Reading equalised, we huffed and puffed. It wasn’t until the last minutes of the game that we went for it, hitting the woodwork twice.
God help us against the mancs!
Dublin Hammers Meeting - 9th December, 2007
BLACKBURN ROVERS 0 vs WEST HAM 1.
A good little meeting this one, not too packed, which was a result as it meant that there was plenty of food to be had!
A great result too, we carried on from the Chelsea game and defended well in the first half without ever creating too much. Then in the second half Aston came on, showed his class in his all round play and it wasn’t long before we were all off our seats celebrating an Aston goal after a good passing move! There was the usual banter going on and the final whistle was greeted with ‘jingle bells, jingle all the way, oh what fun it is to see the West Ham win away’. Good Stuff.
Dublin Hammers Meeting - 25th November, 2007
WEST HAM 1 vs TOTTENHAM 1.
No report from this meeeting!
Dublin Hammers Meeting - 4th November, 2007
WEST HAM 1 vs BOLTON 1.
A well attended meeting saw this draw with struggling Bolton. The highlight of which was George McCartney’s first goal for the club, and a cracker it was too! After a game of ping-pong in the Bolton area, the ball fell to ‘georgey boy’ who volleyed it into the back of the net with style. After that it was backs to the wall stuff with Kevin ‘Fatty’ Davis trying to con the ref into giving them a penalty, quite pathetic really? So Half time came and went, and the game carried on in much the same vain, however, as the game went on we came back into it and Cole had a glorious chance to clinch the game... but missed!
At the end of 90 minutes the ref awarded 4 minutes of injury time, in which west ham did everything possible not to keep the ball, time and again they gave the ball away, until eventually in the 93rd minute Bolton equalised!
A fair result in the end, but talk about thrown away! There was a somewhat dampened atmosphere at the end of the meeting, no surprise really!
Dublin Hammers Meeting - 30th October, 2007
COVENTRY CITY 1 vs WEST HAM 2. Carling Cup.
No report from this meeting!
Dublin Hammers Meeting - 27th October, 2007
PORTSMOUTH 0 vs WEST HAM 0.
Best meeting of the season so far... with everyone in good form the wise cracks were soon in full flow and during the second half there were a couple of cracks that floored all present! Haven’t laughed so much in ages. As for the football, well we didn’t do so badly, after a dodgy 10 minutes at the start we gave as good as we got, with Nobby missing a great chance from a header after a great cross from ‘our mate’ Carlton Cole. So at half time we scoffed lashings of sandwiches, goujons and chips discussing how the hell Solarno had managed to miss his opportunity? The second half began with us under the kosh again, but as per the first half we came back into it and then... yes, another heading chance for Solarno after the ball cannoned back off the bar from Coles shot... how the hell did he miss it? So with the game heading for a draw, general opinion was that a point would do us... then with 20 seconds of injury time to go, the ref awards a penalty to Portsmouth after Gabbidon handled on the edge of the box!... was it a penalty? in my book... no way, for a start it was debatable whether it was actually in the box and secondly, was it deliberate? Don’t think so, handball yes, but a penalty, no... And so over to Robert Green, the hero of our game against Sunderland last week... ‘Benjammi’ runs up and strikes the ball... Greeny dives low to his left and saves... cue mass celebrations, on the pitch and in the bar! The final whistle was blown almost as soon as the penalty had been taken, as we sang! A moral victory then... if only we had a ‘fit’ quality striker, could have been a very different story. Maybe it was the later saturday kick-off that found all in good humour, if only all nil nil draws were as good as this was! Roll on tuesday!
Dublin Hammers Meeting - 21st October, 2007
WEST HAM 3 vs SUNDERLAND 1.
A good turn out for a game we needed to win after a run of 3 defeats. We started well enough and were soon a goal to the good from a Cole header. Cole, not the most gifted of players, but at least he is playing his heart out for the shirt... some of the others... not so sure they are? Then Sunderland decided to show us how to play the game... we couldn’t put more than 3 passes together before giving them back the ball. In Jones they had a striker who proved to be a real handful... up against Upson he won ball after ball, and we were lucky to hang on til half time.
Onion rings... sandwiches... chips... were put-away while the club secetary explained why members wanting to travel on the trip to the last home game of the season will have to book their own flights (see notice below for details). No problem with that, it took me all of 5minutes to book mine! And so onto the second half... west ham carried on where they left off... shite! Soon Sunderland had equalised and proceeded to make chance after chance, Green made a world class save, getting his fingertips to a savage shot from Leadbitter, somehow diverting it onto the post! With the game commentry being drowned out by members cries of derision and anger, Curbishly made 2 changes, bringing on Solarno and Boa Morte. At last we had some width. We got the ball out wide, instead of the mind numbing long-ball through the centre, which invariably led to nothing. Boa Mortes cross fell to Solarno, he hit a low shot which hit the post, hit the keeper and bobbled into the back of the net. Minutes later, again from a ball out wide by Boa Morte, Bellamy scored at the near post. We were happy and bubbles rang around the room... but for Greens astounding save it could have been very different! Upson? drop him, surely Collins is a better bet? We have a run of games on the TV now... see you soon! Lets hope for some better performances!
Dublin Hammers Meeting - 23rd September, 2007
NEWCASTLE UTD 3 vs WEST HAM 1.
Quite a subdued meeting this one, well attended, but quiet. (which was handy as my daughter came along with me, I was wondering how I would explain exactly why ‘east london is so wonderful’, fortunately I didn’t have too!).
I thought we looked good in the first half, and were unlucky to go into break trailing 2-1. Aston was awesome, and we tucked into the half-time chips looking forward to more of the same... unfortunately it didn’t happen, we let in another and never really looked as dangerous as we had in the first half. After the game members had the chance to meet the latest addition to the dublin hammers. ‘Grainne’ made her first appearence sporting the classic ‘tevez’ away shirt and showed what she thought of the hammers performance by promptly filling up her nappy! Congratulations to the proud parents from all at the club!
A good meeting, shame we didn’t get something from the game.
Dublin Hammers Meeting - 3rd September, 2007
QUIZ NIGHT
"Last night was a hoot. Good crowd in. El Presidente was dishing out yellow and red cards all over the place. Don't even know who won? The Simpsons... were Gary Purdy, Gerry Nolan and Tim Holland!" Liam.
Dublin Hammers Meeting - 28th August, 2007
BRISTOL ROVERS 1 vs WEST HAM 2.
I was late getting in for the start of this meeting, as I made my way into cathedral street, I heard a loud cheer, closely followed by a rousing rendition of Bubbles. Once inside a good turn out of members were in a good mood after seeing Bellamy's long range shot nestle nicely in the corner of the goal. We looked good in the remainder of the first half, and Bellamy scored again after getting onto the end of a long ball and hitting it first time into the net! So 2-0 up and the only sour note was the injury to Dyer... broken leg... in 2 places... how unlucky can you get? Oh and what a waste of Eggy's dosh he has turned out to be!<br>
So after tucking into the half-time sandwiches, we settled down for the second half. We sat back... then ferdinand got mugged... and it's 2-1. Cue last 20 minutes hanging on. Not very impressive, apart from Ballamy's first half brace, but still a win and through to the next round. Thankfully the usual flow of wise cracks and the 'dublin hammers choir' kept us entertained when the hammers didn't!