West Ham lived to regret their failure to turn first half
dominance into goals, with Bournemouth finishing the stronger in this keenly
contested game.
West Ham boss David Moyes was happy though to get away with a
point from this closely fought encounter. He felt the 120 minutes that some of
the players had put in earlier in the week during the FA Cup replay had taken
its toll. “In the first half we passed it well and merited a goal said Moyes,
who is pleased that “things are progressing and going in the right direction.”
“We’re looking good up front, getting goals, there are small steps
but progress. We just didn’t quite get the magic,” said Moyes.
The home side moved the ball around confidently in the first half,
retaining possession and keeping the visitors penned in their own half for much
of the time.
The best chance fell to Marko Arnautovic from a Pablo Zabaleta
cross but the Austrian striker’s shot from the edge of the six yard box was
turned over by Asmir Begovic.
Arnautovic then screwed another chance wide having been put
through by Manuel Lanzini.
The second half continued in a similar way, with Arnautovic again
away on his own but he failed to finish.
Bournemouth came more and more into the game, until in the 70th
minute they got their reward. Former Hammer Junior Stanislas sent Ryan Fraser
away, the striker managing to get goal side of James Collins to finish across
Adrian.
West Ham though hit back from the kick off, going straight up the
other end to level. An Arnoutovic shot rebounded nicely for substitute
Chicarito to ram home.
There were some tired old legs in the West Ham side, especially on
the right hand side of defence, with Zabaleta struggling to get back and 34
year old Collins also challenged to keep up the pace.
Adrian pulled off one more save, palming away a shot from Adam
Smith at full stretch.
Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe conceded his side were slow out of the
traps and lucky not to concede from the early pressure. “It was always going to
be a tough game for us, with West Ham in good form,” said Howe.
On transfer talk around Chicarito, Andy Carroll and Diafra Sakho,
Moyes declared that “there was speculation about every man and a dog here at
the moment.”
He stressed that the squad was short at the moment and the need
was to keep players.
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