REVOLTING 3 3

‘We want our club back’ say furious Hammers supporters as threat of relegation looms

WEST HAM must be sick of the sight of Glenn Murray.

One glance at the team sheet should have told David Moyes there was big trouble ahead.

Seagulls boss Graham Potter called up 36-year-old warhorse Murray for a first Premier League start since September.

The striker could easily have left the Amex for regular football in the transfer window – and how Moyes must have wished he had.

Potter’s gamble paying off was almost inevitable. The forward popped up with a first league goal of the season – but a fifth in six games for Brighton against the Hammers – to snatch a point.

Brighton hit back from 3-1 down after 75 minutes, with Issa Diop and a brace from Robert Snodgrass having put the Hammers in the driving seat.

The home supporters were booing at the final whistle.

Leaflets were handed out in protest at what fans are calling ‘10 years of failure’ since owners David Gold and David Sullivan took over. ‘We Want Our Club Back,’ they read. The Hammers have now dropped a league-high 19 points from winning positions this season and the club posted losses of £27.3million last week.

They have now failed to beat Brighton in six top-flight matches over the past three seasons.

Potter had endured a tough few days after the death of his father, and Seagulls winger Leandro Trossard said: “It’s impressive how he did his job. It is a hard time for him and the group reacted.”

A comedy own-goal enabled Brighton to pull one back.

Lukasz Fabianski flapped at Pascal Gross’s corner, pushing it on to the head of Angelo Ogbonna and into the net.A meltdown between Fabianski, Ogbonna and Diop led to Gross’s 75th-minute goal before Murray’s late strike, which was ruled out for handball but given byVAR. Snodgrass said: “We know that is not the way you defend.” West Ham paraded Jarrod Bowen, their £20m recruit from Hull, before kick-off. They will need Bowen, below, and fellow new signing Tomas Soucek to hit the ground running.

WEST HAM (4-5-1): Fabianski 5; Fredericks 7, Ogbonna 5, Diop 6, Cresswell 6; Snodgrass 8 (Lanzini 85), Rice 6, Soucek 6 (Fornals 85), Noble 7, Antonio 8 (Masuaku 74); Haller 6. Goals: Diop 30, Snodgrass 45, 57.

BRIGHTON (4-2-31): Ryan 6; Montoya 7 (Schelotto 72), Dunk 7, Webster 7, Bernardo 6; Propper 6, Stephens 7; Gross 7, Mooy 6 (March 72), Trossard 7; Murray 7. Goals: Ogbonna 47 og, Gross 75, Murray 79.