I said before the game I'd take a point and having gained a point, I'll take that! I'm actually pretty happy with the result. Disappointed that the goal we conceded was almost entirely our own doing. Disappointed that Defoe didn't convert in injury time. Disappointed that a game I thought we were the better team in ended a goal apiece. But ultimately, given where we are under the new regime, a point at Upton Park (never an easy place for us to go) and the manner of the performance leaves me feeling much more upbeat than I have at any time so far this season.

So, onto the actual match report.....

The early kick-off meant an early start and restricted my beer consumption with last night's curry to three pints! For the best since after the last drive up to London following a curry the night before..... well, let's just say having felt that rough, never again!

The trip to Upton Park by tube reminded me just how crap the East End really is. Everything you see on Eastenders is much, much worse. What a horrible place! OK, so Tottenham's not exactly got what you'd call luxury surroundings, but Upton Park. Bleurgh!

We lined-up pretty much as expected with Bale restored to the side and playing in a proper left-back role with what looked like quite a rigid 4-4-2 with two wide men across the middle. And it paid dividends in the first fifteen minutes of the game. We were totally dominant. West Ham hardly got going and but for a call of offside we'd have had the lead very early on.

So dominant were we in fact that Kaboul's mistake to gift West Ham the lead made me absolutely furious. I reckon the supporters stood around me were a tad surprised at just how much my blood was boiling. But bloody hell! That one moment of madness when he had plenty of time to clear, humped it straight at the oncoming West Ham player..... Grrrrrrr! I'm still angry about it now! And its gone half-nine!

Moving on - that goal brought West Ham back into the game and they managed to grab some more possession, but really, we were still the better side. Robbo made one tremendous close range save, which, regrettably came from Kaboul getting done over at the near post because he was just too slow to anticipate the through ball.

The talking point of the remainder of the first half will probably be the penalty that wasn't given. Standing in the lower levels at the opposite end of the ground it was difficult to see exactly what had happened. At first I just thought Keano had blown it by lobbing wide. But the reaction of the players clearly suggested they felt hard done-by at not being awarded a pen. Having see the replay I can kind of see why, although it wasn't completely clear cut on first viewing. Of course, I'm not going to let Mike Riley off. When he had such a shocker of a game, why should I? Amongst the utter garbage decisions that were made - only one yellow card for Carlton Cole when leading with his arm on Gareth Bale when he'd offended in the same way minutes earlier on Dawson. And a booking for Zokora for an admittedly poor tackle when one from a West Ham player that went straight through (again - poor sod!) Bale went unpunished.

So, a goal down at half-time - a better position than we were in last season - and having seen the general level of performance, plenty to play for. No stupid giant-sized stuffed animals to celebrate the Chinese Olympics for entertainment this season so I focused on trying to make sure I knew how to get to East Ham station after the game rather than have to queue up for hours at Upton Park! Last season my mate Patrick and I somehow managed to walk all the bloody way to Barking! I wasn't going to be doing that again this year. Unfortunately, mobile phone technology as brilliant as it may be, and Google Maps, as useful as they are, are utterly useless if there's no connection! Never mind, I thought, we'll take a punt and if we win, who cares if I have to walk for half an hour to Barking again?!

And really, that should've been the case. While the second half was more even, we were still the better side in terms of possession and quality of football, but West Ham did have the better chances. Thankfully Ramos whipped Kaboul off, jigged the side 'round with Chimbonda switching to centre-half, and Lennon dropping a bit deeper, and it worked pretty well. Certainly in the middle Chimbonda - while not being a centre-half - was far more assured than Kaboul. A case could probably be made for that move to be more permanent while both King and Gardner are injured, with Lee switched to right-back.....

While we still weren't creating stacks of chances, the possession we did have meant the equaliser didn't come as too much of a surprise. Jenas curled across a free-kick for Dawson to nod toward goal with Robert Green coming and getting nowhere near the ball! Now, if that'd been Robbo I can absolutely guarantee the papers would be slating him tomorrow and plenty on here would be calling for his head. Amazing what being in the limelight brings onto you in terms of pressure! Green will get on with it and we'll probably never hear about it again. So in this past week two of Robbo's understudies really have made glaring errors. Which realistically leaves only David James as a likely replacement in the England team. But I digress. We're not here to talk about England. Croatia again though! Probably a decent draw all-in-all. The only better draw from the top seeds would've been Greece. Probably.

Anyway, at 1-1 I thought we had every opportunity to win the game and two good saves from Robbo as well as a clearance off the line by Jenas set us up for Defoe to slot in from the spot after he was bundled over for no reason in injury time. Just as I was thinking back to last season's injury time antics my hopes were dashed as Green got down to his left and touched it onto the post. That was pretty much the last meaningful action as well which meant we left a shade disappointed with the result, but encouraged by the quality of performance.

As I've intimated, it was the best I've seen us play this season. By far. OK, I wasn't at OT, but leaving that aside it was the best performance by a stretch. And a number of players had really good games. Dawson was back to somewhere nearer his dominant best, Jenas was absolutely quality (finally, after all those times I've said he needs to do it against the bigger sides, he got some way towards doing it today!), Bale was superb (particularly with his delivery - top notch), and Berbatov improved further from his last outing against Wigan. The others too had good games, and though they were perhaps a little less noteworthy their contribution can't be denied. All except, sadly, Kaboul, who really didn't look like a centre-half. He has a lot of learning to do to play in that position in the Premier League. While he may be capable of filling the boots one day he is quite a way from the quality of performance demanded in that position at this level.

Overall we are still weak defensively. A large proportion of the pressure we invite onto ourselves is because the back four are still a long way from where they were last season even. That and the fact that we still have this tendency to drop way too deep. Its clear there is still a lot to be done in that department.

The midfield performance today was much improved on most this season and with Berbatov getting somewhere back towards his best form - some of his touches and movement today were sublime - there is a lot of encouragement to be had from today's visit to Upton Park. The fixtures come thick and fast now leading up to Christmas and will go a long way towards shaping where we go. Two very winnable home League games, the final two UEFA Cup group games, two really big crunch games away at Fratton and against the Arsehole, with a trip to Man City in the League Cup sandwiched in between. Oh my word! There's a lot of football to be played in the coming month, and if we can get close to today's level of performance we should be heading the right way.