HAMMERS HORRORS
Moyes boys bungle Euro elite bid
DAVID MOYES saw West Ham’s Champions League hopes take a possibly terminal hit.
Brighton’s Danny Welbeck had struck on 84 minutes, getting in behind then dinking over the advancing Lukasz Fabianski.
But substitute Said Benrahma claimed a magical equaliser with a superb bending effort.
On the plus side for Moyes, Declan Rice was back – and that looks like great news for both his club and England.
Gareth Southgate was in attendance and will have noted how his defensive midfield pivot played like he had never been away after six weeks out.
They Hammers may even now miss out on the Europa League places with Tottenham and Everton snapping at their heels.
Brighton’s safety was finally confirmed when Fulham lost at home to Burnley last week – it has been both an exhilarating and frustrating season for the Seagulls.
Time and again Graham Potter’s men have played opponents off the park, but poor finishing has cost them dear.
The quality of the football has kept fans happy, and Brighton will go again next season looking for the mid-table finish that eluded them this year.
It may help that goal if the south coast club can hang on to the £40millionrated Yves Bissouma and young centre-back Ben White, likely to attract big interest this summer.
One of the main culprits for wasted chances – Neal Maupay – was not available for selection last night having been sent off after the final whistle in the defeat at Wolves.
And Potter had to reshuffle at the back, too, to cope without captain and talisman Lewis Dunk, who also saw red at Molineux.
Jesse Lingard had a fine if short loan spell at the
Amex when trying to break in to the Manchester United team seven years ago.
Another such loan spell has revitalised his stalled Old Trafford career with the Hammers – and opened the door to an unlikely late place into Southgate’s Euro 2020 squad.
On the Euros front Southgate will also have been delighted to see Rice back in the West Ham starting line-up after time out with a knee injury.
Pascal Gross, deputising as skipper for Dunk, was deployed in an unusual right wing-back role for the home side.
And on the overlap after 12 minutes he sent one cross fizzing in to the area but no one was there to get on the end of it.
But West Ham always looked dangerous, with the elusive Lingard finding space in front of the Brighton back three and picking out the wide men.
The Seagulls’ Mali international midfielder Bissouma, reportedly a target for both Liverpool and Arsenal, escaped a booking and even the award of a foul for a sturdy tackle on Lingard.
He did receive a yellow card shortly after for another challenge on the same player.
Then Craig Dawson just failed to connect properly with an Aaron Cresswell corner. And Cresswell put in another quality delivery that Michail Antonio could not divert on target.
On 32 minutes Antonio got it all wrong trying to head the ball back into the six-yard box instead of on goal – but the striker was saved by an offside flag.
Pablo Fornals brilliantly created an opening for himself but was tackled in the area.
West Ham looked nailed on to take the lead in the 41st minute. Cresswell picked out Fornals, but from eight yards his effort was blocked on the line with claims for a penalty for handball rejected.
And in a blistering five minutes before half-time Tomas Soucek’s 20-yard effort was then saved by Robert Sanchez.
After the break Antonio fired over and Jarrod Bowen’s cross was just cleared after a threatening run into the box.
The Seagulls went close with Alireza Jahanbakhsh’s drive after Fabianski charged out but was beaten to the ball.
Moyes put on Benrahma for Bowen. Potter added some know-how in the form of Adam Lallana, and he helped create the breakthrough.
Benrahma levelled - but in terms of West Ham’s European ambition it might not matter much.
SUNDAY MIRROR