West Ham blogger slams ref Anthony Taylor for his attempt to ‘even up’ his mistakes on Sunday

Newham Recorder: Kwame Boakye West Ham fanKwame Boakye West Ham fan (Image: Archant)

Anthony Taylor...a name on the lips of all Hammers fans for the second successive season.

Last season he wrongly sent off Carlton Cole in a match against Everton with the score level at 1-1, a game we went on to lose 2-1 and Cole’s red was subsequently overturned.

And on Sunday he literally handed Liverpool a win they scarcely deserved with an incredibly soft penalty.

The game at Upton Park between West Ham and Liverpool didn’t follow the script; the Reds were meant to come swaggering into East London and steal all three points with incredible football: Suarez, Sturridge and Sterling were supposed to rip us to shreds and dazzle the watching millions around the world with a swashbuckling display. But that’s not what happened at all.

On Sunday at the Boleyn, West Ham more than matched a Liverpool team that are swotting each and every team in the league away like a pesky fly. Yesterday’s victory makes it nine in a row for the Reds, but without a doubt they were in a fight against the Hammers, we didn’t just lie down and die like Spurs and Man United have in recent weeks and for that we can be immensely proud.

I must admit due to the controversial nature of our equaliser I knew that as soon as the referee got the opportunity to atone for his ‘error’ he was going to take it, and didn’t he just relish pointing the spot? In my opinion whether or not Guy Demel’s equaliser should’ve stood is a complex matter...on the one hand yes Carroll did have his hands on Simon Mignolet and perhaps that did cause him to drop the ball, but on the other hand it was Martin Skertl’s shove on our big Geordie that took him into the Liverpool stopper. So should we have had a pen for that? Or was justice indeed done because our goal stood?

Regardless of whether the home side’s equaliser should’ve stood or not, the referee in question Anthony Taylor shouldn’t have attempted to ‘even up’ the game by giving Liverpool a contentious decision; two wrongs after all don’t make a right. And Liverpool’s second penalty was a disgrace; Adrian clearly got a touch on the ball and Taylor couldn’t wait to give it.

Big Sam’s gang can be proud of the fact that free-scoring Liverpool looked distinctly average on Sunday and required two penalties to win the game; I honestly couldn’t see them scoring from open play.

For that, credit must go to the back four who were magnificent yesterday. In midfield I thought Diame, Noble and Taylor all battled, scrapped and acquitted themselves well, especially Diame who caused Liverpool problems all afternoon. It was only in the final third where I felt we lacked a little quality; a situation which will no doubt be addressed in the summer.

Nevertheless there were many positives to take from a defeat to a side that could well go on and be crowned champions of England this season; and perhaps the biggest one of all is we made them look ordinary.