Doesn’t it feel great winning?!
More than a month after our last victory against Norwich on New Years day we welcomed Welsh side Swansea to the Boleyn Ground.
Andy Carroll and Matthew Taylor came into the squad that got beat 3-1 away to Fulham just 3 days earlier, but what a difference the two players made.
Carroll, starting his first game since mid-November, looked like the player he once was at Newcastle. With his aerial presence and strength the Swansea City defence had a nightmare trying to handle him.
The first half started brightly and we could have taken the lead several times but for some fine saves by Swansea’s German keeper Tremmel, who was standing in for Michel Vorm.
It seemed destined to be a 0-0 draw even after the break after Tremmel made an amazing save with his leg after Andy Carroll unleashed a powerful shot with his right-foot.
But on came Joe Cole, against the team he made his debut against back in January 1999. It was through his perseverance on the 77th minute that we managed to win a corner.
Mark Noble jogged over to take it and swung in a peach of a ball for Carroll to nod in after losing his marker and towering above two Swansea players.
It was his second of the season and first at Upton Park. We had to endure a nervy last 20 minutes to complete what was well deserved win against the Capital One Cup finalists..
Our first clean sheet in 10 games and our first win in 4 premier league games. It also means we are currently 9 points off the drop going into an important game against relegation contenders Aston Villa.
Hopefully we can manage to get a result out of that game and a few more in the remaining months of the season.