Irons grab precious point but a draw hard to swallow

Newcastle 2 Hammers 2

By Hugh Southon

So another point but  it really should have been three!

Of course we’ll take it and it pushes us four points clear of the bottom three but after taking the lead early and late before being hauled back by quick equalisers it’s hard to swallow.

Antonio got the first on four minutes after great work by Pablo Fornals and Jarrod Owen only to see Almiron level 13 minutes later,

Then the excellent Tomas Soucek scored his second in two games on 65 minutes but Shelvey popped up equalise two minutes later – hard to swallow.

The Geordies were probably the better team in the first half – always looking threatening.

But there was a a real hunger about the Irons and they finished with a flourish and looked the most likely team to win the game notably when Yarmolenko stung the keeper’s fingers with a brilliant late shot which with a bit more angle would have been the winner.

Once again it was Declan, Jarrod Bowen and Soucek who caught the eye with the signing from Hull providing the cross for the first after super work by Fornals.

There’s a determination in the team and despite Newcastle playing the better football at times the Hammers remained resilient although the concentration lapses for the two equalisers is something that needs addressing.

Had we held on we would probably have been talking confidently of survival – as it is, four points from two difficult games is acceptable.

We move on with Burnley the visitors on Wednesday night followed by Norwich on Saturday and at the end of those two we should have a very good idea of what division we will be playing in next season.

Continue with the attitude we have shown in the last two games and that will surely be the premier League!