Submitted By: Liam Corbett (Brother)

For those that don’t know (I’m assuming that’s no one), Andrew’s love for West Ham was second only to that for his family, and maybe a few choice friends. He insisted that they were the best team around, despite the evidence to the contrary. So this particular event was a once in a lifetime for him.

Andrew pretending that West Ham had won something

Me, Jim and Fingers went to a West Ham vs Sunderland game at the end of a season and before hand, he wanted to put a bet on. He found what he thought was a corker, Trevor Sinclair to score first and West Ham to win 3-0. The 40-1 odds wouls have seen him pick up a cool £800 for his £20 investment.

However, there were no betting slips available and kick off was fast approaching. After being told they were trying to get some in but it could take 5 minutes, Fingers decided that he’d rather see the start of the game than hang around for a 40-1 long shot. So he took his seat for kick off – and glad he was too, as Joe Cole scored very very early on, much to Fingers’ relief. Good decision not to wait for the betting slip.

But the linesman had other ideas and wrongly (it turned out) disallowed the goal. And everyone can probably guess what happened next.

Trevor Sinclair (wearer of Andrew’s favourite number 8 shirt) scored the opening goal. He celebrated but it was a little subdued. Surely this wouldn’t happen. West Ham then made it 2-0 “I don’t believe this” and Andrew’s celebration was even more low key.

Sure enough, the Hammers then stormed into a 3-0 lead much to Fingers’ disgust, but with 15 minutes to go, there was still hope that the score line would change. It was at this point that Sunderland got clean through and me and Jim saw a sight that we never thought we’d ever see – Fingers wanting the opposition to score. “Go on, go on, GO ON” – only for the West Ham keeper David James, to make a great save. “Noooooo!!”. From the resulting corner, Sunderland then hit the crossbar – which was greeted with a swear word from Fingers. Once again, Fingers was gutted that West Ham hadn’t conceded.

In the final minute, West Ham broke clear, only for Joe Cole (again – he didn’t score that season), miss a simple chance to make it 4-0. West Ham had played really well, and won 3-0. Fingers was absolutely gutted!!