West Ham United of England’s Nigerian-born Italian international, Angelo Obinze Ogbonna continued defying all odds by romping from his role in The Hammers’ back-four to knock home his second goal in same number of matches, megasportsarena.com reports.
In what could be seen as Ogbonna’s ability to show strikers how to get the job done, the former AS Torino and Juventus of Ital stopper made hay for the second straight fixture in the English Premier League, as he netted an 80th minute winner for his side against Leeds United.
The Hammers moved up to fifth on the EPL log, as headers from Tomas Soucek and Ogbonna brought goals that secured a 2-1 victory away to top-flight newcomers Leeds on Friday night.
Leeds took an early lead as Mateusz Klich (5) scored from the penalty spot at the second time of asking after VAR had ruled Lukasz Fabianski, who brought down Patrick Bamford to give away the spot-kick, to be off his line in saving the initial penalty.
However, the hosts’ problems from set pieces continued to haunt them as Soucek brought the Hammers level in the 25th minute, before Ogbonna sealed all three points 10 minutes from time.
Declan Rice’s inch-perfect through ball released Pablo Fornals and the midfielder’s shot crept inches wide of the far post. Then Meslier made a stunning one-handed stop to keep out Fabian Balbuena’s bullet header from close range.
However, Meslier was left with no chance in the 80th minute as Ogbonna’s header, which came from Aaron Cresswell’s cross after Costa’s sloppy foul, picked out the top corner to seal victory.
Ogbonna’s winning effort saw David Moyes’ side leap up to fifth spot, four points behind league leaders Tottenham and second-placed Liverpool, while Leeds stay 14th following a sixth defeat of the season.
Leeds’ coach, Marcelo Bielsa was clearly not happy with what he saw in the opening 45 minutes and made two changes at the break, Jack Harrison and Gjanni Alioski making way for Helder Costa and Jamie Shackleton.
Bielsa posited: “It was a fair defeat, the type of game that doesn’t surprise us. We prepared ourselves to face a game of the characteristics it had today and they were superior.
“We know about this problem and we’re doing everything necessary to try and correct it, it’s not sufficient but we have to insist this problem has less influence on our games.”
