Retro match: Redknapp’s thriller

Wednesday, 23/11/2011

by Ger McCarthy

Date: February 12, 2000
Venue: Upton Park
Competition: Premier League
Final Score: West Ham 5 Bradford City 4

Harry Redknapp is currently enjoying a remarkable run with Tottenham near the summit of the Premier League and is one the favourites to become the next England manager whenever Fabio Capello vacates the post.

Redknapp is credited with blooding the likes of Frank Lampard, Joe Cole and Rio Ferdinand during his time as manager of West Ham and one match from the 1999-00 campaign sticks out as proof of his attacking philosophy when West Ham hosted struggling Bradford City at Upton Park.

Hammers' keeper Shaka Hislop suffered a broken leg following a tangle with Bradford’s Dean Saunders in the opening minutes of the fixture resulting in the introduction of youngster Stephen Bywater between the sticks for the home side. Bywater was only on the bench because regular reserve shot-stopper Craig Forrest was away on international duty and conceded a sloppy opening goal on the half hour.

West Ham’s replacement failed to deal with a Bradford corner allowing striker Dean Windass a simple header to break the deadlock for the visitors. Hammers equalised within five minutes of falling behind when Frank Lampard’s ingenuity released Trevor Sinclair and the West Ham winger made no mistake with a net finish to bring parity to the score-line.

John Moncur was a favourite of the Upton Park faithful for many years with his silky passing skills knitting the West Ham midfield with their forward line. Moncur completed an excellent comeback with a stunning long-range effort to make it 2-1 but Bradford hit back right on half time when Moncur was adjudged to have fouled Saunders in the penalty area and Peter Beagrie converted the ensuing spot-kick.

Things got worse for the home side after the break when a rampant Bradford surged into a 4-2 lead following some calamitous goalkeeping from Bywater. The West Ham keeper made a mess of an innocuous looking Gunner Halle effort and Jamie Lawrence took full advantage to stab home from close range. Lawrence bagged his brace four minutes later by taking advantage of Bywater’s poor positioning to lob a delightful effort home and send the visiting supporters into wild celebrations.

Redknapp’s side found themselves 4-2 down with only a half an hour remaining but the future Tottenham manager made a bold decision to bring on striker Paul Kitson and switched to a 4-3-3 attacking formation. The substitution has the desired effect as Bradford immediately resorted to a defensive formation in an effort to maintain their lead rather than continue pressing forward to finish West Ham off.

Kitson made an instant nuisance of himself and won West Ham a penalty after 65 minutes when the substitute was brought down in the Bantams’ penalty area. A brief argument broke out between veteran Paolo Di Canio and West Ham’s regular penalty taker Lampard which the Italian won before slotting home the spot-kick to make it 4-3.

Joe Cole was a developing talent nurtured by Redknapp into the West Ham starting line-up and brought the roof off of Upton Park with a magical individual effort to level the score at 4-4 with 20 minutes to go. A topsy-turvy encounter looked set to end in a draw until Frank Lampard stepped forward with seven minutes remaining to arrow a magnificent effort into the top corner of the net for the ninth goal of the afternoon.

The West Ham supporters roared their manager and team off the pitch at full-time following a memorable 5-4 win with Redknapp’s bold substitution at 4-2 down the catalyst or a remarkable Hammers comeback.

Redknapp’s West Ham finished in a respectable ninth at the end of the campaign, finishing ahead of big spending Tottenham, Newcastle and Middleborough. Di Canio enjoyed a terrific individual campaign with the controversial Italian netting 16 goals. Redknapp walked out on the Hammers one game from the end of the 2000-01 season and enjoyed varying degrees of success with Portsmouth and Southampton.

Despite the heart-breaking defeat at Upton Park Paul Jewel’s side concluded their 1999-00 campaign in dramatic fashion on the final day of the season. A star-studded Liverpool squad, still in the hunt for a UEFA Champions League spot, visited Valley Parade needing a win and put out their strongest available eleven.

Bradford were just as desperate for three points as relegation from the top flight looked a certainty unless a City could pull off a shock result over the Anfield giants. Jewell’s side did just that with a single David Wetherall goal proving enough to earn a famous 1-0 victory and preserve Bradford’s Premier League status for another season.

Disappointingly, Bradford manager Paul Jewell decided to leave the club shortly after having steered City to survival and took over at relegated Sheffield Wednesday instead. The Bantams would go down the following season under Jim Jeffries following a horrific campaign that saw the Valley Parade club finish bottom of the table.

West Ham: Hislop, Charles, Ferdinand, Stimac, Lomas, Moncur, Lampard, Cole, Minto, Di Canio, Sinclair. Subs: Bywater, Keller, Carrick, Potts, Kitson.

Bradford City: Davison, Halle, Wetherall, O'Brien, Jacobs, Lawrence, McCall, Whalley, Beagrie, Windass, Saunders. Subs: Blake, Sharpe, Southall, Redfearn, Dreyer.

Referee: Neale Barry

Follow Ger on Twitter: @offcentrecircle

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