Carroll madness but 10 man Irons earn a battling point
Burnley 1 West Ham 1
By Hugh Southon
First he was booked by referee Stuart Attwell for allegedly catching Tarkowski in the face and only 90 seconds later he incredibly caught Mee with with a leading elbow which could have caused shocking damage.
It wasn’t quite a replay of the Arnautovic madness earlier in the season but equally as awful to watch and it means he misses next Friday night’s game against Brighton.
Antonio had given the Hammers an early lead when, after a huge Hart punt down the middle was badly controlled by a defender, the Hammer of the Year passed it into the net as Pope advanced.
The Hammers survived a huge penalty shout when Hart appeared to being down Wood but the ref waved away all appeals.
There was little to trouble the visitors and Antonio could have had a second when after Obiang came on as a second half sub for Arnautovic he engineered a brilliant passing movement with Antonio pumping the final shot into the keeper’s arms.
At the other end Gudmonsson rapped a shot against the post which rebounded towards the sprawling Hart’s back which the keeper turned and snatched before it had the chance of bouncing off him and back towards goal.
The Irons had defended brilliantly with two banks of four following Carroll’s departure and appeared to have seen off the Clarets but as has been so often the case they failed to see it out.
And it was Winston Reid’s international team mate Chris Wood who twisted the knife when heading well into the left hand corner after a Gudmundsson had left Cresswell for dead and crossed well.
Once again a case of so near but so far but a point lifted the Irons up to 14th place and with only 10 men to do battle for so long, one which most would certainly have taken before the game.