Gareth’s late goal saves Pulis from ‘loser’ jibe

GARETH McAULEY stopped Tony Pulis being a ‘loser’ – five days after the West Brom boss branded Ryan Shawcross one.

Northern Ireland’s McAuley leapt four minutes into the five added on at the end to level matters after West Ham had overturned a 1-0 deficit.

Sofiane Feghouli and Manuel Lanzini got the goals for the home side after Nacer Chadli’s early strike had given the Baggies the lead.

McAuley’s leveller was all too much for Hammers boss Slaven Bilic (right), who hurled a pitchside boom microphone to the ground in frustration and was sent to the stands by referee Michael Oliver.

Bil ic’s dismissal capped a fine effort from the Hammers bench – the Croatian’s assistant, N iko la Jurcevic, was earlier been sent to the stands for haranguing assistant referee Simon Bennett. Bennett had ruled out a firsthalf Feghouli effort which would have made it 1-1. And while the majority of the stadium agreed with Jurcevic that he’d called it wrong, replays showed Bennett was spot on. It all made for a game which far exceeded expectation – the ‘ West derby’, as it has been branded, having looked a safe bet to claim the last slot on Match of the Day prior to kickoff. It was helped in no small part by the fact the Baggies were ahead after six minutes. West Ham skipper Mark Noble played an uncharacteristically poor pass to Feghouli , who was immediately put under pressure by Chris Brunt and the loose ball ran to James Morrison. He fed Chadl i , who nutmegged Cheikhou Kouyate just inside the area before slipping the ball between the legs of Darren Randolph.

Randolph’s opposite number, Ben Foster, made a very good save soon after to keep out a Robert Snodgrass free-kick low down at his right-hand post.

And Salomon Rondon was unlucky when his sweet effort had Randolph beaten but rattled back off the bar.

Then, controversy, with Feghouli squeezing the ball home for what looked a perfectly good goal.

Except the assistant referee saw it differently and replays, several of them, proved he was right to raise his flag and rule the effort out.

Craig Dawson was flat out in the penalty area after being clattered by team-mate Foster and appeared to be playing three Hammers onside.

That was the home side’s argument, anyway, and it looked valid until further replays showed Michail Antonio had impeded Foster in an offside position.

It was a good call from the assistant. Snodgrass was at the heart of much of what West Ham did well as they continued their search for an equaliser.

They finally drew level just after the hour mark when Lanzini’s drive forced a good save from Foster, but Feghouli pounced on the loose ball to hit a deserved leveller.

Lanzini then wrapped his right boot round an excellent effort from 25 yards again and this time Foster was beaten.

It looked like Pulis’s decision to take off Chadli and replace him with defender Jonny Evans at 1-0 had backfired, but up popped McAuley to send Bilic into a rage.

Bilic said: “It was a great game. We played fantastic, the whole game, especially in the second half. We were good in every sense of the game.”

Pulis added: “I’m not claiming the inspired substitution, not at all – we were winning 1-0 when I brought Jonny on.

“But we’re very pleased with the result.”