West Ham Utd 1-1 Manchester Utd

  • by Staff Writer
  • Sunday, 8th February 2015

West Ham were cruelly denied all three points against Manchester Utd at the Boleyn this afternoon by an equaliser deep into added-on time.

Earlier in the season United had been denied a share of the spoils at Old Trafford when Kevin Nolan's last minute effort was ruled out for offside.

And the Hammers were a matter of seconds away from inflicting what would have been a second defeat in 17 games on today's visitors before Daley Blind stole in to snatch a point, with three of the four added minutes having already been played.

Despite going into the game with just one recognised centre half, it was the stand-in for James Collins and Winston Reid who was to prove pivotal for West Ham throughout the game.

Cheik Kouyate, making his first start since returning from the African Cup of Nations with an ankle injury deputised efficiently at centre half and popped up in the opposition's penalty area to score his second goal for the Irons, four minutes into the second half, to give West Ham a lead they were to hold until the 93rd minute.

The goal came from Mark Noble's free kick, drifted into the visitors' penalty area. Kouyate, with his back to goal took the ball under control on the edge of the six-yard box before turning adroitly and firing beyond David De Gea to make it 1-0.

The goal followed a closely-fought and even first half, in which goalscoring opportunities were at a premium. Still, Enner Valencia managed to test De Gea's reflexes on 14 minutes with a fierce drive and then again a minute later, with a shinned shot from close range that required a fingertip save.

Following Kouyate's opening goal however, the tables turned as Louis Van Gaal's side began to find their range. Falcao fluffed a good chance two minutes after his side had fallen behind, firing across goal from an acute angle, but it wasn't until the final quarter-of-an-hour that Manchester began to look consistently dangerous.

The introduction of Marouane Fellaini saw the Red Devils switch to a rather more direct tactical approach. Di Maria narrowly missed the target with a 25-yard free kick before Falcao missed his side's best chance of the game, poking the ball wide of the goal with only Adrian to beat.

With just seven minutes to play, Adrian's foot intervened at the right time to deny Van Persie, whose drilled effort was heading into the far corner. As the match entered added-on time West Ham's Spanish 'keeper flung himself to his right to deny substitute Fellaini.

United must have thought they'd clung on to win the game when Rooney's free kick went straight into the wall. However Van Gaal's side had other ideas and as they worked the ball back into West Ham's box, Blind emerged to find Adrian's bottom left corner with a precise effort.

West Ham could - and probably should - have wrapped the game up prior to that point, most notably when Mark Noble has the entire goal at his mercy but failed to find the net thanks to a superb reaction save from De Gea three minutes from time.

Matt Jarvis, on as a replacement for the tiring Valencia could also perhaps done better when presented with a golden opportunity from a defensive mix-up, but could only send his header over the bar. It was the sort of chance one suspects the missing Andy Carroll would have gobbled up.

The Hammers also ended the game with a man advantage after Luke Shaw saw red for a second bookable offence, according to referee Mark Clattenburg; if anything, it was far worse than that with the England full-back going in to a 50/50 with studs showing, ankle high.

Regardless, West Ham had barely any time to make anything of their numerical superiority and the game ended a stalemate - much to the disappointment of Sam Allardyce and his whole side, who certainly deserved a whole lot more than one point from their two encounters with Manchester this season.




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