THE BILIC BAD BOYS
Fair play winners West Ham land ANOTHER red and Slaven’s off too!
YOU couldn’t fail to be amused by the irony of it all. West Ham, who were handed their route into European football courtesy of the Fair Play League, received their third red card in five Europa League qualifiers last night.
This time it was James Collins who was given his marching orders — following the same path as Diafra Sakho and James Tomkins in previous rounds.
And to complete the farce, manager Slaven Bilic was sent to the stands in the closing stages for arguing with referee Adrien Jaccottet over a challenge on Dimitri Payet.
Bilic watched his side throw away a two-goal lead against Romanian side Astra Giurgiu to set up a nervy second leg next week. And, just nine days before the Premier League kicks off, both Joey O’Brien and Enner Valencia sustained injuries. Bilic is hopeful O’Brien can shake off a slight hamstring strain but admits he is fearing the worst for Valencia, who suffered damaged knee ligaments.
The Educadorean will have a scan today to determine the seriousness of the injury, but he looks set to miss the opening weeks of the new season. West Ham are understood to have sounded out Atletico Madrid about their £15million-rated Mexico striker Raul Jimenez and Valencia’s injury is likely to hasten a move.
Bilic, who felt Collins’s sending-off was harsh, still refused to criticise the referee. ‘This is not ideal, we are preparing for the Premier League, but it’s not the way we would do it,’ said Bilic, who opens his domestic campaign at Arsenal on August 9. ‘But, in some ways, it helps because we are playing competitive games. ’
West Ham took a 23rd-minute lead when Payet’s pinpoint cross was powerfully headed home by Valencia. Mauro Zarate looked to have killed the tie with a brilliant solo effort. But the balance shifted in the 59th minute after Collins was sent off for two bookings following two clumsy challenges.
And Astra took full advantage. Fernando Boldrin struck a 25-yard piledriver and, eight minutes from time, debutant Angelo Ogbonna notched an unfortunate own goal.
WEST HAM UNITED (4-3-2-1): Adrian 6; O’Brien 6 (Burke 35, 6.5), Collins 5, Ogbonna 7, Cresswell 6.5; Noble 6.5, Oxford 7, Kouyate 7.5; Payet 8, Valencia 6,5 (Maiga 37, 6); Zarate 7.5 (Jarvis 75, 6). Subs not used: Spiegel, Nolan, Poyet, Samuelsen. Booked: O’Brien, Creswell. Sent off: Collins. Scorers: Valencia 23, Zarate 51.
Manager: Slaven Bilic 7. ASTRA (4-4-2) Lung 8; Queiros 6.5, Alves 6.5, Gaman 6.5, Morais 6.5; Boldrin 7.5 (Dandea 86), Enache 7, Seto 7, De Amorim 6 (Florea 77); Teixeira 6, Budescu 6.5. Subs not used: Gavrilas, Oros, Lovin, Ricardo Alves, Stan. Booked: Enache, Budescu. Scorers: Boldrin 71, Ogbonna og 82. Manager: Marius Sumudica 7.
Man of the match: Silviu Lung. Referee: Adrien Jaccottet (Swit) 7.
ABERDEEN’S lengthy trek across Europe got off to the worst possible start when they fell 2-0 down against Kairat Almaty in their third qualifying round first-leg clash. The Dons, whose 6,830-mile round trip to Kazakhstan outfit Almaty is the longest there has been in European club competitions, trailed to early strikes from Mikhail Bakaev and Bauyrzhan Islamkhan. But Kenny McLean came off the bench to score in the 69th minute to give the Scots hope ahead of next Thursday’s second leg at Pittodrie.