Cheer Up, Mark

Mark Hughes has done such a good job as manager of Blackburn Rovers, it’s a real pity that most of the time he seems to be so miserable. There he was at Upton Park, grim faced, grey haired, thin lipped, constantly shaking his head at one perceived injustice after another. The way things are shaping, he’s beginning to look uncomfortably like Peter Reid.

But to be fair to him, he did have good cause. First there was the tragic injury to striker Jason Roberts, whose fractured metatarsal will keep him out of action for some considerable time. And if that wasn’t bad enough, referee Alan Wiley awarded the Hammers a corner in the 78th minute, even though television replays clearly showed that Zamora was the last player to touch the ball, and moments later Mullins bundled the ball in for what proved to be the decisive goal.

After that, even the late appearance of whey faced, jug eared flop in the box Francis Jeffers, who is still apparently trying to resurrect his career, couldn’t alleviate the manager’s gloom.