Two points dropped in dire draw

West Ham were held to a 1-1 draw by Newcastle United on Saturday in what was a poor game of football.

The two sides did entertain in the first half as the game threatened to turn into an end-to-end contest.

Both goals in the game came in that first period, as Craig Dawson powered a header home for the Hammers and Joe Willock scored for Newcastle.

But the second half saw precious little goalmouth action, with neither Lukasz Fabianski nor Martin Dubravka called into action with regularity.

In the first half, the Hammers started poorly defensively, as they looked jittery defending a couple of corners from the away side.

But they did fashion the first proper chance when man of the moment Jarrod Bowen hit the crossbar. He was played in down the right channel by Ryan Fredericks, who was substituted at half-time, and he smacked a bouncing effort at goal, only to see Dubravka tip it onto the crossbar.

On the half-hour mark, the Irons had the lead, as Dawson, who was magnificent all game, got free in the box and thumped a header into the bottom corner after Aaron Cresswell’s pinpoint free-kick delivery.

Newcastle did fashion another chance before half-time and they scored from it. Jacob Murphy played in Ryan Fraser down the left flank, and he crossed; Declan Rice seemed certain to clear it, but his header skewed back towards his own goal and Willock got a boot to the ball, turning it just over the line.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the second half was Said Benrahma’s substitution on 71 mins, as he was replaced by Nikola Vlasic. The Algeria international was slow to get off the pitch, simply ambling towards the touchline, and was told in no uncertain terms by David Moyes to hurry up.

It’s fair to say that the rest of the game passed without much goalscoring incident, although Newcastle eyes lit up in injury time when Dawson inadvertently headed the ball out for a corner after a mix-up with Fabianski. In keeping with the rest of the half, it came to nothing.

Overall, one has to say that this point is one that Newcastle will be delighted with, as they continue their slow climb away from the relegation zone. For the Hammers, this will feel like two points dropped, especially if our top-four rivals win their games this weekend.