THAT’S NOT VERY ANDY
Burnley ....... 1 West Ham ....... 1 Carroll temper returns to leave Slaven mad
ANDY CARROLL left West Ham high and dry as his reckless dismissal saw his team-mates left to battle it out for a point.
Carroll was touted for an England recall by team-mate Aaron Cresswell last week – but that particular bandwagon hit the skids as soon as the striker picked up two cautions in as many first-half minutes.
First, the centre forward who won the last of his nine England caps in 2012 elbowed James Tarkowski in the air. Then he barrelled into Ben Mee just 99 seconds later.
That left the Hammers with more than an hour to try to protect Michail Antonio’s freak goal – slotted into an open net after Mee and keeper Nick Pope both failed to connect with the ball. They failed as Chris Wood pounced late to deny the visitors their first back-toback wins of the season. Hammers boss Slaven Bilic admitted that he was “disappointed” with Carroll.
He said: complaints sending off.
“He’s an experienced player. With the second one you can’t do that especially two minutes after you’ve been booked. “I haven’t spoken to him yet but I am very disappointed.” New Zealand striker Wood’s fourth goal of the season makes him a much more productive targetman than Carroll.
West Ham fans must dream about Carroll being as reliable as the tireless Antonio.
His 19th-minute opener came from nothing more subtle than a muscular heave upfield from goalkeeper Joe Hart. Antonio set off in pursuit but would not have got near goal had Mee not entirely failed to make contact, or if Pope had done more than wave both the ball and player towards goal.
The only thing left for a baffled but grateful Antonio to do was roll into an open net. Robbie Brady dragged the hosts into a “I have no with Andy’s response, shooting a yard over after brushing off Cheikhou Kouyate and causing flutters in the West Ham defence with a teasing free-kick which just evaded Wood.
Then Carroll bundled into centre stage. He had already shared a couple of words with referee Stuart Atwell when he went up with Tarkowski and was penalised for leading with the elbow.
He argued the toss, pleaded his innocence and, around 90 seconds later, hurled himself into an even clearer booking, this time leaving his mark on Mee.
The inevitable dismissal followed.
The classy Steven Defour joined Brady in leading the Burnley charge, with the latter’s deft ball sending Wood through on goal and tumbling after Hart dived at his feet.
He wanted a spot-kick and it was a good shout but the keeper’s wagging finger suggested he felt otherwise.
There were three changes for the second period, Burnley summoning Sam Vokes and Johann Berg Gudmundsson, while Bilic bolstered with Pedro Obiang.
It made for a wide-open second period. Antonio had two golden chances, failing to connect by a matter of inches at the far post then denied by Pope after a snappy passing move involving Obiang, Manuel Lanzini and Javier Hernandez.
Burnley regularly raided the penalty area too but when Gudmundsson’s drive landed safely after hitting both a post and Hart’s back it began to feel like it was not their day.
Wood eventually salvaged a point, rising to nod Gudmundsson’s delivery beyond Hart.
Burnley boss Sean Dyche admitted his side struggled to break down 10-man West Ham after Carroll’s early exit.
He said: “They sort of semi-camped in with 10 men. Generally we had a lot of the ball but it can be difficult to break them down.
“A fine bit of quality eventually got us a goal and it was a fine goal.
“I think the ref had to send Carroll off. The second one is a possible straight red. I like players to be robust but it could have been straight red.”