COLUMNIST KEN BUCKLEY

From my seat: West Ham (c)

A capital performance sees us into the semi-final of a cup competition, much to the delight of all assembled. A game I thought that was a good old cup tie. We sprinted out of the blocks with some intent and pegged the Hammers back for a good five minutes with only a glancing header wide from Yak to show for it.

The Hammers then seemed to get a foothold in midfield with Parker being the pick of the bunch and it was indeed his long pass that seemed to catch both Neville and Yobo playing 'after you' as to who was picking up Cole; no-one did, he didnt hesitate and by the time Howard had decided to charge he poked home the ball and we were one down.

For a good thirty minutes I thought they ran the midfield and exposed uncertainty in our rearguard with Jagielka looking decidedly shaky. Then first of all Carsley started to have much more influence and Jags settled more and more into his role and for the final fifteen minutes of the first half we put some really good stuff together that they found hard to live with.

It was one of those times that you could sense a goal coming for us such was our dominance and so it proved when a move of many passes saw Neville, Carsley and Pienaar fashion a ball in a crowded area to Osman and his strike was sweet and true, the roof came off, no one wanted the half to end.

Second half saw some end-to-end stuff without either keeper being unduly troubled but throughout it all we looked the better team and the more likely... Arteta didn't have his best night and I wondered why someone else didn't take at least a couple of free kicks from promising positions as Arteta's radar was impaired; he just could'nt beat the first man.

The half wore on and it was evident the Blues were intent on going home with nothing less than a victory. They scrapped and battled when necessary and played some good joined-up stuff as well but that brakthrough ball just wouldn't come.

The clock ticked on... extra-time looked nailed on when a good old hoof from Carsley saw Gabbidon produce the 'panto' moment. A cushioned routine header back to the keeper with the Yaks hooves beating in his ears, he didn't look to see the keeper's position, witness two startled players as the header passed the bemused keeper. The Yak thundered past them,stuck out a preditor's left leg that put just enough pace on the ball for it to roll over the line.

All the roofs came off, The Yak song was sung, the ref blew the whistle and that moment ? priceless!. Overall I thought everyone played their part, no-one gave up, everyone wanted it. I have seen Cahill and Arteta play better and after another shaky start I thought Jags came more and more into his own and if he can take this confidence into more games then he can be a good addition. My man of the match was Pienaar he seemed to be everywhere and was the most inventive.

A cracking win in a cup-tie away from home, we are looking like decent team because we didn't look like the away side,always a good indicator. Yet no matter how much I am enjoying our run I still have the conviction that we need a top central mid-fielder and a wide man, preferably left footed.

Back to Cottee land again on Saturday, probably be quite a different game but the same result will do me. UP THE BLUES

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