Netherlands midfielder Daley Blind smashed home an injury-time equalizer to rescue a point for Manchester United against West Ham in a pulsating English Premier League game at Upton Park on Sunday.
West Ham’s Cheikhou Kouyate opened the scoring with a stunning volley in the 49th minute, after Wayne Rooney failed to clear Mark Noble’s free-kick. Kouyate spun in the penalty box to score after juggling the ball twice, with his volley deflecting into the net off Blind.
However, Blind saved the visitors two minutes into extra-time when a speculative ball from Marcos Rojo was only partially cleared by the West Ham defense, falling perfectly for the midfielder to slam the ball past goalkeeper Adrian.
Photo: AFP
“It’s a fantastic performance, but not the result we deserved,” West Ham manager Sam Allardyce said.
United, who started the weekend third in the Premier League, dropped to fourth, while West Ham remained in eighth position.
West Ham had most of the opportunities in the first half and United had to rely on goalkeeper David de Gea to keep out several goalbound efforts from striker Enner Valencia and a towering header from James Tomkins.
Despite the frenetic pace to the match, United only registered their first shot on target in the 41st minute when a long range drive was easily held by Adrian.
United improved after going behind and bringing on Marouane Fellaini for Belgian international teammate Adnan Januzaj midway through the second half.
A more direct style of play led to chances for Fellaini and Robin van Persie, both thwarted by Adrian. Radamel Falcao, out of sorts and on the periphery for much of the match, was guilty of a horrendous miss, stabbing the ball wide from close range in the 77th minute.
West Ham had chances to seal the win too, with Noble coming close and substitute Matt Jarvis shooting straight at De Gea.
United had Luke Shaw sent off after he picked up two yellow cards in the final 10 minutes, the second coming in the third minute of injury-time.
“I cannot say I’m very happy with the point,” United manager Louis van Gaal said. “We played a very bad first half. West Ham were much better, they won every second ball and when we had the ball, we lost it so easily, so it was very poor. But then my team showed fantastic spirit and fantastic football. We could have won this game also.”
In Sunday’s other Premier League games, Stoke City registered a 1-1 draw away at Newcastle United, and West Bromwich Albion clawed themselves back into the game for a share of the points in a 2-2 draw at Burnley.
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