Wood strikes as West Ham anger grows
Supersub Chris Wood scored two goals for Burnley and helped set up another in a 3-0 rout at West Ham amid a pitch invasion at London’s Olympic Stadium.
Wood - still striving for full match fitness after a long spell on the sidelines with a knee injury made a telling impact off the bench. The All Whites striker replaced Jeff Hendricks in the 61st minute and was soon in the thick of the action.
Wood played a perfect ball to Ashley Barnes, who lashed a 20m shot past West Ham’s England goalkeeper Joe Hart for the opening goal in the 66th minute.
The Kiwi forward grabbed a goal of his own in the 70th minute, sweeping the ball beyond Hart, and collected his second in the 81st minute after an error by Hart.
West Ham - without All Whites captain Winston Reid whose season is over after a knee injury suffered an embarrassing defeat and are likely to face disciplinary sanctions after a fan ran on to the pitch until Hammers captain Mark Noble intervened and shoved him to the ground.
Another two supporters then came on and were eventually led away by defender James Collins.
It was Burnley’s second goal, scored by Wood, which proved the final straw for hundreds of fans, who charged along the concourse between the tiers of the stadium they hate so much to gather underneath the directors’ box to chant ‘‘sack the board’’ and ‘‘you destroyed our club’’.
Joint-owners David Gold and David Sullivan, whose decision to uproot the club from its old east London Upton Park ground to the former Olympic Stadium is behind the anger, are understood to have left their seats for their own safety.
Another supporter picked up a corner flag, ran to the centre circle and planted it in the ground.
Police had to be positioned along the touchline and specifically around the West Ham bench, where more disturbances appeared to take place.
In other matches, Manchester United scored twice through Marcus Rashford in the opening 24 minutes, then produced a ultradefensive display to grind out a 2-1 win over fierce rival Liverpool and strengthen second place.
Chelsea beat Crystal Palace 2-1 while West Brom appear destined for relegation after their seventh straight loss, after a 4-1 loss to Leicester City. Everton and Newcastle grabbed important wins, while Huddersfield drew 0-0 with Swansea.