Thomas is a Hitz yet again

29 July 2010

GOAL: Thomas Hitzlsperger.

THOMAS HITZLSPERGER gave an indication of the power he can provide in the West Ham team as the Hammers completed their pre-season training camp with a 1-0 victory over Greek champions Panathinaikos.

In another game played in the familiar English weather of driving rain, just across the German border in Austria, it was Hitzlsperger who settled the game with a rasping free kick that flew into the Greek net.

West Ham had to withstand plenty of pressure from a side playing in this season's Champions League, but they did so admirably and young goalkeepers Marek Stech and Peter Kurucz kept clean sheets as they played a half each.

"Panathinaikos are very good and we coped well with their pressure," said Grant. "They are preparing for the Champions League and I saw them take the title last season after many years without success in Greece.

"For us it was a good game and the traditional English weather helped us."

Goals from midfield have been a problem for the past few seasons at West Ham, but if Hitzlsperger can continue this sort of form, playing alongside the returning Scott Parker in this game, then it would be an enormous boost for the Hammers.

Grant was certainly delighted with the free kick that gave the Hammers this win.

"I was pleased with Thomas' goal," said the boss. "We only started working on set-pieces a few days ago and that was just briefly, so I liked that we did that.

"We also created a few chances before and after. We defended well and for a training game it was good."

So West Ham returned from their training camp with two wins from as many games, but more importantly, they returned injury free.

The pre-season tour has been something of a jinx in recent seasons with Luis Boa Morte being ruled out for almost the whole season after injury in China, while both Scott Parker and Julien Faubert suffered untimely injuries in the season's build-up.

The team continued their winning pre-season run with a 2-0 victory at MK Dons last night (Wednesday), and now travel to Ipswich Town on Saturday.