Crystal Palace 2 West Ham 2
"Six minutes, six bloody minutes!" I find myself declaring in the style of Michael Palin in Ripping Yarns, while sitting with a drink at the Amble Inn in Harpenden, having completed stage two of the Lea Valley Walk with Nicola and Paula. "I'll just assume we concede a last-minute equaliser in added time to avoid unnesessary stress."
Sure enough, with seven minutes of added time gone, Zaha equalises with the last kick of the game. Antonio has chosen to cross it into the middle rather than hold it up in the corner and 22 seconds later Zaha scores, having turned inside Kouyate too easily and with Rice not getting tight enough. It's not the despair I can't take…
It's cruel on the Hammers and Bilic who looked so close to a second away win in four days. Hernandez finished cleverly with the outside of his foot to convert Cresswell's cross. Then Ayew dribbled from the half way line before firing in a rocket off the crossbar. Why hasn't he done this more often? Now his confidence is up Ayew looks like he might finally justify his £20m fee.
ANTONIO WOE
But Hart has already made one fantastic double save from Tomkins and Schlupp in the first half and early in the second an Ogbonna foul gifts Palace a penalty. Cresswell and Fonte depart injured. To be fair to Palace they deserve something from the game, as Cabaye hits the post, Hart produces a great stop to deny the Frenchman's free kick and then the 'keeper produces a stunning save to tip Tomkins' header on to the bar.
After the game Hart complained about the side being "unprofessional" at the end, and West Ham really have to learn to hold on to two-goal leads against bottom-placed sides. Hart's heroics and a steely resolve to cling on to an away victory could have turned WHU's season. But then came Antonio's aberration (has he been taking lessons in game management from Lionel Scaloni?) and as Slaven said, it felt like a defeat.
Though on reflection most of us would have taken a point before the game and a win and a draw against Spurs and Palace should be enough for Bilic to retain the confidence of the board. Yes, the Hammers have gained a point on Swansea and Bournemouth. But it could have been so much more.
4 comments:
Excruciating! Thing is we knew we would mess it up at the end. Defending on the edge of our box for 40 minutes is not our forte, or Fonte
I enjoyed the Wembley Spurs win hugely, but remember Avram Grant's Hammers beat an Alex Ferguson Man Utd in the same round, and they got relegated. What's been lost in the talk about Antonio's stupidity in the 97th minute, and Kouyate's slack defending, is that we allowed a poor and dispirited Palace team without Benteke to dominate the match. I'd backed Slav up to the Brighton match, but I now believe he should go.
Palace did dominate the game looking at the highlights, though they are much better under Hodgson and did beat Chelsea recently. But the Avram Grant parallels are worrying, we can't just rely on Cup wins. Bilic a little unlucky in that Fonte and Cresswell (and Zabaleta?) all got injured but even so...
It seems hard to say but if we lose on Saturday he will have to go
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