Skating by

By all accounts, Coventry City outplayed West Ham Tuesday in the fourth round of the Carling Cup, but a stoppage time goal by Carlton Cole saw the Hammers win 2-1, pushing the team to the quarterfinals for the first time since 1999-2000. After Wednesday's action, the League Cup's final eight is now set. All eight are Premiership sides, not surprisingly.

I listened to the BBC Radio broadcast of the game via WHUTV. I just signed up for a club membership, and it comes with a three-month subscription to WHUTV. It's the first time that I have listened to a soccer match, and I found it a mostly satisfactory way of following the game. The announcers were understandably critical of West Ham's lackluster effort for most of the match. Fortunately, Coventry could not finish its many chances in the first period.

The refereeing was again a topic, and Rob Styles was again at the center of the chatter. Styles was the referee who gave Chelsea a much undeserved penalty shot against Liverpool a few weeks ago at Anfield. That enabled the Blues to forge a 1-1 draw. Tuesday night, Styles seemed to miss two huge calls, one for each side. Both the Guardian and the the Independent wrote about substitute Jonathan Spector flicking a ball on with his forearm during the play that led to Cole's winner. I have watched the highlights three times -- once each from Sky Sports, Fox Soccer Report and WHUTV -- and I did not get a good look at that aspect of the play on any of them. I thought that there would be a close shot of it on Fox Soccer Report, because they're usually pretty good about showing complete highlights, but there was nothing. Perhaps there just wasn't a good shot of the play. Neither paper mentioned the other play that probably should have resulted in a free kick for West Ham just outside the penalty area and a straight red card to Coventry, but the Telegraph did. I have seen the replay of this play several times, and it sure looked to me as if the final defender took Luis Boa Morte down. Boa Morte almost made it past him unscathed, but he was pitched forward by the defender's interference. The Times mentioned neither of these calls, but instead noted that the match also added to West Ham's injury list, with both centre-half Anton Ferdinand and midfielder Hayden Mullins knacked.

The draw for the quarterfinals is Saturday. Matches will be played Dec. 18-19, with the winners playing in two-legged ties in January.

Not flashy, but substantive

West Ham's game away to Portsmouth did not have the amazing goals that typified some of the other games this week. I am watching the Premier League review show as I type this. I just saw the goal that Carlos Tévez scored on a 1-2 with Wayne Rooney -- Tévez lofted a ball to Rooney into the box, who controlled and then gave it back to Tévez with a back heel. There were none of those brilliant finishes in the game on the South Coast. There were some great saves, especially by Robert Green, in a nil-nil draw that was a lot more entertaining than that scoreline would indicate.

The Telegraph saw the game through the prism of England's Euro 2008 failures, particularly in goal. David Miller also praised the two teams for attempting to play football that is more articulate than most teams attempt in the Premiership. The Independent also looked at Green's chances to play for England, and gave the opinion -- with which I agree -- that Green's saves earlier in the match were better than the penalty save that dramatically preserved a point for the Hammers. The Guardian added to the Green for England theme and also noted Carlton Cole's fine play. Cole set up both of the frustratingly close chances that Nolberto Solano couldn't finish. The Times painted Cole's play of late as his first steps toward redemption. The Times noted Cole's battles with injury and his less-than-friendly reception at Upton Park when he has played. I thought Cole's good play against 'Boro was somewhat overlooked, so I'm glad to see him get his due for another fine game.

Craig Bellamy was problematic Saturday. In the first instance, he still has abdominal soreness just a few weeks after he had a hernia operation and had to come off after halftime. In the second, Bellamy spent most of his time on the pitch complaining to the referee. Bellamy got into it with Pompey defender Hermann Hreidarsson. Both were booked in the 25th minute, when Bellamy swiped Hreidarsson with his boot as he walked past. It was a silly booking for Bellamy to earn. That said, Hreidarsson showed himself on several occasions to be a very chippy player, with Bellamy as provocateur or not. Bellamy also seemed strangled with West Ham's different shape on Saturday. I read it described as 4-3-3, 4-1-4-1, 4-5-1 and 4-3-2-1, but in either case, Bellamy played on the right, dropped back behind Cole as the lone striker. (I am far from expert in these things, but I think 4-3-2-1 is the best way to describe their shape.) Matthew Etherington came on at half for Bellamy, and Etherington's work with George McCartney continued to help West Ham threaten up the left side.

Next up for West Ham is a League Cup tie away to Coventry on Tuesday. With Bellamy hurting again and Dean Ashton and Bobby Zamora also out wiith injury, I would expect Cole to be the lone striker up front again. Luis Boa Morte could spell Cole, I suppose, but getting back one of the real strikers would be better. Next weekend, the Hammers welcome Bolton to Upton Park. When these teams last met, Bolton was playing its first match with Sammy Lee as manager. I was in an Irish bar in Venice watching Tévez score two and set up a third in the first half hour. Lee is gone, having been replaced by Gary Megson. I'll be watching this one from the comfort of home, as it's scheduled to be on Fox Soccer Channel.