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West Ham 1-1 Brighton
by Paul Donovan at the London Stadium
WEST HAM manager David Moyes felt his side paid the price for failing to be more clinical in front of goal in this keenly fought game against Brighton at the London stadium.
“We need to be more clinical and win the games easier. We had two or three big chances and did not take them,” said Moyes, who felt his side did not capitalise on a good start.
The home side were ahead in four minutes, when Tomas Soucek rose to head in a corner from Pablo Fornals.
West Ham were then unlucky when Vladimir Coufal saw his shot pushed aside by Robert Sanchez.
Another sweeping move saw a cross-field pass from Declan Rice collected by Coufal, whose cross was headed down by Michal Antonio for Fornals to hit sweetly on the volley. The shot bounced back off the underside of the bar.
Brighton though were always dangerous with Neal Maupay seeing his effort saved by Lukasz Fabianski. The same player had earlier just screwed an effort wide of the post.
The most controversial moment of the game came two minutes into the second half, when keeper Sanchez missed a corner, with the ball falling among a melee of players before ending up in the net.
It looked to have brushed Antonio on the way in off a Brighton defender, so after a VAR check was ruled out for offside.
West Ham had more chances, with Jarrod Bowen seeing his shot go narrowly wide, after being put away by Said Benrahma.
Rice saw his rocket from 20 yards turned aside by Sanchez.
Finally, an Antonio header from a Coufal cross was snatched out of the air by Sanchez.
West Ham ended up paying the price, when two minutes from time, the impressive Maupay spun acrobatically in the area to convert a cross from Tariq Lamptey.
West Ham's final chance saw a Kurt Zouma header cleared off the line by Marc Cucuralla.
Moyes felt the draw was a fair result but his side did not keep possession well enough.
Graham Potter praised the good spirit in the team, group and club.
The travelling Brighton support seemed happier too — compared to those who booed the team off last weekend.
