VAR Denies Hammers Win As Seagulls Steal A Point
Hope everyone is safe and well.
Apologies again for the lateness of this post. I’ve found it hard to keep up with the recent run of home games given my current personal circumstances.
On a night we needed a win, VAR denied us a second goal as the ball rolled over the line off Shane Duffy. Celebrations echoed around the ground only for the decision to go against us as Antonio was judged to have been offside before the ball had hit the defender on its way into the goal.
West Ham boss David Moyes was unhappy with the VAR decision to deny the Hammers.
“VAR is really good and the refereeing has been really good but we do not want to get rid of goals,” said Moyes.
“To rule it out and to choose to not give the goal, we’re in the business to score goals, that’s what people come to games for.
“I think it’s so hard to call that not a goal. You have to have something clear and I didn’t see a reason why that goal couldn’t stand.”
The atmosphere was tense and quieter then usual and you had a sense this was not going to be our night. We had chances for sure, beyond Soucek excellent glancing header from Fornal’s cross that gave us the advantage after only 5mins.
Indeed Fornals almost doubled our lead with an another excellent strike that hit the underside of the cross bar only for it to bounce clear – hearts in hands at as a clear opportunity to race ahead before half time had slipped beyond us.
You can see why the Seagulls are proving hard to beat and they had the lions share of possession, moving the ball about neatly at time but its wasn’t until Maupay’s acrobatic kick that they showed a real threat upfront, except for forcing two good saves from Fabianski to deny an equaliser; one from Jakub Moder in the first half and another deflected shot from Solly March at the beginning of the second half.
Could we hold on for a win to turn our recent form around? Not on this accession and despite Brighton’s superior possession stats we had plenty of chances to seal a victory with Bowen shooting wide 15minutes before the end and both Declan Rice and Michail Antonio testing Sanchez before Maupay’s last gasp equaliser.
A hard earned draw from Brighton and definitely 2 points lost from the Hammers as we try to secure 4th spot in the Premier League before the busy festive period of games begin.
A bad day at the office, but at least we have arrested a run of 2 Premier League defeats, albeit sandwiching a win at Rapid Vienna to secure our place in the last 16 of the Europa League. Still a lot of positives for us in an exciting season that will carry us through to the New Year without losing ground on the top of the table.
Take care everyone and be safe.
Dawud
From the Stands 