Dean Hammond scored both goals for the Albion yesterday

 

In spite of the need to get at least one win out of our last three games, most of us would have settled for a point against West Ham - and that seemed to include the players.
 

Immense credit must go to them for battling back to equalise in the 90th minute. But the naive manner in which they conceded a second goal immediately after equalising Reo-Coker's opener was extremely disappointing. However, another masterful tactical change by McGhee, plus a big mistake by Pardew, allowed the Albion back into it. Pardew decided to sit back on the 2-1 lead when, frankly, a
continuation of some of their more exquisite forward movement would surely have brought further goals.
 

As the sublime Sheringham and quieter Etherington departed the stage with their manager thinking the job was done, McGhee seized on the fact they only had one up front, switched to 4-4-3 and it paid off.
 

Thankfully scoring has now become a habit Dean Hammond enjoys, and when we eventually managed to get crosses into the box, he came piling in to dispatch emphatic headers. In effect, West Ham bottled what was a great
opportunity for them to take the three points. They were nervy, particularly at the back, and we had to thank Bobby Zamora for some less than clinical finishing, plus an almighty gaffe by Harewood, with only Blayney to beat, for not conceding more than two.
 

Make no mistake, when they were on their game, West Ham looked a class act, and our boys, at times, simply couldn't live with the superior skill and movement. Adam El-Abd was particularly nervy at right back and it was his failure to clear a ball down the left, and Virgo's need to come across in an attempt to cover, that opened up a gaping hole in the middle for Reo-Coker to steal in and score the early goal. That said, Albion had some good spells of passing and Dan Harding got forward well on the left, to make up for the lack of natural width on that side of our midfield.

When he got through and into the penalty area and was pulled down, there was incredulity all round that the
referee could book him for diving rather than award a penalty. There again, with Brighton's luck on the penalty front, maybe we should have expected it.
 

As with the game at Burnley, Albion's options as an attacking force improved immensely once Jake Robinson was thrown into the mix. He must have been very disappointed not to make the starting line-up, although
Leon Knight had a terrific game and it was his trickery which won us a series of free kicks in dangerous areas just outside the box - Knight himself and Richard Carpenter coming close with their 25-yard efforts.

Chris McPhee was largely disappointing and didn't really come alive until Robinson was introduced alongside him. El-Abd was eventually replaced - Gary Hart coming on on the right and Paul Reid dropping back into the right back slot. Reid seemed to get better as the game wore on and, reflecting on his contribution in this and other recent matches, for me he is emerging as a genuine contender for player of the season.

And so to Rotherham, where we are going to need patience and belief - and goals.

Nick Turrell