West Ham paid homage to their DNA, under the dimming lights of the Boleyn

So nearly perfect: Valencia put West Ham ahead twice, but Aguero was on hand to snatch a point for City
IKIMAGES/AFP/Getty Images
John Dillon23 January 2016

There won’t be many more of these gripping winter nights at the Boleyn Ground, but this one will serve as one of the outstanding final reminders of what the old place has been about for all these years.

On a cold, dank evening when east London’s ancestral stadium throbbed with its uniquely earthy brand of noise and soul, West Ham twice led Manchester City and made them look weary outsiders for the Premier League title.

They also delivered a display of the kind of electric, dynamic attacking football the locals will sometimes try to convince you was actually invented and then patented on this pitch.

That isn’t strictly true, of course. But with only eight more league games remaining here, this energetic new Hammers team forged a late-edition memory of an evening of thrills, spirit, endeavour and adventure which prompted a standing ovation from the stands at the end.

This is the new landscape of the Premier League, where the financially mighty clubs like City escape from places like Upton Park relieved to have earned a point against the odds.

It went on show at a stadium which is soon to be vacated and left behind. Perhaps there was an irony in that. Perhaps, too, though, the fact that the Irons are on the move transmitted even more emphatically the idea that the ground is shifting in this mightily ferocious competition, too.

Slaven Bilic’s team have been major participants in the uprising of the middle–rankers which has taken place this season, along with teams like Stoke City, Crystal Palace, Watford and, of course, high-flying Leicester City.

West Ham have won at Arsenal, City and Anfield and beaten Chelsea here. They have completed a Double over Liverpool.

At the beginning of the season, many wondered if this was an early fluke. But just as Leicester have maintained their place among the leaders , so West Ham have kept going; just ticking over sometimes while hampered by a serious injury crisis. But refusing to fall away all the same.

And now this, one of their finest performances of the campaign, illuminated once again by the dazzling trickery and brilliance of Dimitri Payet and by two goals from Enner Valencia, whose return to fitness has now been marked by four goals in the last three league games.

Let’s face it. It is going to be a struggle to replicate this atmosphere and this kind of game at the sparkling new Olympic Stadium simply because…well, because it is all going to be so sparkling and new.

Nothing wrong with that, of course.

The change is inevitable. But it will take a long time for the roots of the place to burrow as deeply into the fabric of this ragged part of the city as those upon which this fabulous occasion was supported.

True enough, too - and without wishing to over-egg the wistfulness too much - the result fitted the long-established DNA of West Ham perfectly.

After all this, they still didn’t win, with the point rubbed home by the fact that Cheikhou Kouyate headed against the cross-bar with the very last touch of the game.

Twice, they let slip that lead as they fell victim to the unquenchable genius of Sergio Aguero, who, on this display, may virtually alone have to keep City in touch with Arsenal and the other front-runners, given the vague performances of some of the other superstars around him.

Player Ratings: West Ham vs Manchester City

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You could argue that City showed true title credentials by snatching a point from this. But you would be wrong. It was merely the individual brilliance of Aguero which did the job.

His work as he pounced on Aaron Cresswell’s mistake in the 81st minute was an exemplary demonstration of his art. And if he stays fit, well, yes, he can do that for the rest of the season and it will keep City respectable.

But in reality, this was a limp and low-key team performance. Too many of Aguero’s team-mates – Yaya Toure stood out in this respect – quite clearly failed to match his hunger to keep going.

Then there was the debacle of poor defending from Nicolas Otamendi which allowed Valencia to score his second goal from Michail Anotinio’s throw-in in the 56th minute.

This is a side which knows that its coach, Manuel Pellegrini, will be on his way come May. It is showing.

By contrast, West Ham’s renewed effervescence was illustrated by the fact that Valencia put them in front after just a minute.

Aguero equalised from a penalty. But if Joe Hart hadn’t pulled off a stunning save to thwart a long-free kick from Payet, West Ham would rightly have led at the break.

Again, perhaps this illustrates that City’s individuals may do enough on their own to keep them going. But it is a fragile concept in comparison with the roaring sense of drive, eagerness and togetherness which is fuelling teams like West Ham in this astonishing season.

Somewhere inside this stadium, the countdown clock is ticking. For 90 minutes here, West Ham’s supporters could kid themselves that time was standing still – and that they might revel in this kind of magic for ever.

They can’t. But they have one more, winter-burnished memory to take with them to Stratford.

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