DANNY SAVES THE HAMMERS FROM CLARET AND BOOS
Ings to the rescue in incredible finish
DANNY INGS has a great future behind him, but his 16-minute cameo from the bench saved West Ham’s blushes.
In an astonishing finish, Ings thought he had rescued a point for the Hammers with his first touch against his former club, only to be thwarted by VAR snooping.
Then the Irons substitute did make it 2-2 with a smart turn and finish in the first of eight added minutes, his first Premier League goal in 13 months.
And there was still time for Ings to crash a volley against the bar in the 96th minute before the madness was over.
When it was safe to draw breath at the London Stadium, neither the patrons of cor blimey heartlands nor the no-naynever diehards were satisfied with a point.
In a nutshell, this is why Burnley are going down. The Hammers, booed off at the interval, were utterly wretched in the first half. They were there for the taking – and the Clarets, two goals up, still couldn’t finish them off.
But for West Ham, this was an even worse result. If they are going to qualify for Europe again through their league position, there can be no excuse for their atrocious opening 45 minutes.
Play like that again in their second leg against Freiburg on Thursday night and it will be Auf Wiedersehen to the Europa League.
“The first half was not good enough and we didn’t create too much,” conceded Ings.
“In the second, we showed a reaction and it was nice to get a goal, but we look at these home games as ones to win, and overall we’re disappointed.”
The Hammers have not always enjoyed Sundaylunchtime gigs after away trips in Europe.
But there was no excuse for the slovenly, slapdash dross they served up here, and Burnley seized the initiative with a stunning goal. David
Datro Fofana breezed past Kalvin Phillips’ tissue-paper challenge into a pocket of space and speared a rising 25yard shot beyond Alphonse Areola after 11 minutes.
Worse was to follow for West Ham when ex-irons academy graduate Josh Cullen surged into the box untracked.
His low cross was begging for a decisive touch – and, unfortunately for West Ham boss David Moyes, it was supplied by Konstantinos Mavropanos, the Greek defender turning it into his own net.
Moyes responded by hauling off fringe England candidates Phillips and James Ward-prowse, who were both hopeless in front of watching Three Lions coach Gareth Southgate, and the Hammers tuned into his simmering anger instantly.
Within 29 seconds of the restart, Lucas Paqueta caught Maxime Esteve dawdling in possession and the Brazilian playmaker raced clear to beat James Trafford with the simplicity of posting a letter.
All of a sudden, Burnley were rocking. Paqueta curled one deft chip inches wide and inadvertently blocked teammate Jarrod Bowen’s goalbound effort on the line, then Mohammed Kudus blazed over from eight yards.
Five minutes from time, Ings dinked Michail Antonio’s chested pass past Trafford, only for VAR jobsworth Andrew Madley to decide Antonio’s fingernail was offside.
Fomrer Burnley star Ings finally opened his account for the season to make it 2-2, and there were chances at both ends to win it. There was Ings’s volley against the bar six minutes into added time, while at the other end Sander Berge lifted his shot over the top and Areola’s sprawling save denied Josh Brownhill.
Then, right at the death,
Berge appeared to head the ball against his own arm in the box and the officials saw no reason to intervene.
Burnley are 10 points from safety – no wonder they are 1-40 to crash straight back into the Championship.
WEST HAM (4-2-3-1): Areola 6;
Coufal 7, Aguerd 5 (Ings 82), Mavropanos 5, Cresswell 5; Phillips 3 (Alvarez 46, 7), Soucek 6; Ward-prowse 4 (Antonio 46, 8), Paqueta 7, Kudus 8; Bowen 7
BURNLEY (4-4-2): Trafford 5;
Assignon 5, O’shea 5, Esteve 5, Taylor 6; Vitinho 6 (Gudmundsson 90); Berge 7, Cullen 7, Odobert 6 (Delcroix 68, 5); Fofana 8, Bruun Larsen 7 (Browning
46, 6)