Burnley blow two goal lead as Danny Ings and Lucas Paqueta rescue point for West Ham
- Planet Sport writer
- 10 March 2024
Lucas Paqueta and Danny Ings, who scored his first league goal in over a year, rescued a point for West Ham as they came from two goals behind against strugglers Burnley.
Ex-England striker Ings arguably changed the game for David Moyes' side as he also had a goal disallowed before he grabbed a crucial equaliser for the Hammers.
Ings had the chance to grab all three points for the hosts late on but he hit the crossbar and the Hammers had to settle for a point in a game that they will have targeted all three.
A long-range strike from David Datro Fofana and an own goal by Konstantinos Mavropanos had put Burnley, who kicked off rock bottom in the Premier League and had not scored for a month, two up at half-time.
West Ham, on the back of a not particularly arduous 1-0 Europa League defeat in Freiburg, were lethargic and sloppy for 45 minutes but, inspired by Lucas Paqueta and Ings, hit back for a point.
They fell behind after only 11 minutes, although there did not appear to be any danger when Fofana picked the ball up 40 yards out.
But the Chelsea loanee strolled through powder-puff challenges from Nayef Aguerd and Kalvin Phillips before launching a rocket from 25 yards into the top corner.
Phillips would probably have been a shoo-in for Thursday’s England squad had he stayed on Manchester City’s bench this season.
But his loan switch to West Ham has been little short of disastrous so far and, with England boss Gareth Southgate watching from the stands, the midfielder looks in serious danger of playing himself out of the squad for this summer’s Euros.
West Ham’s abject first-half display was summed up neatly when their former youngster Josh Cullen crossed low from the left and Mavropanos stuck out a foot to divert the ball past Alphonse Areola.
James Ward-Prowse and Jarrod Bowen are also on Southgate’s radar, but both had days to forget. The latter headed his only chance wide and the former, along with Phillips, was hooked at half-time.
Edson Alverez and Michail Antonio were thrown on instead and within a minute West Ham had halved the deficit, Paqueta pouncing on some sloppy Burnley possession, striding forward and confidently beating James Trafford.
Mohammed Kudus should have equalised when he collected Bowen’s cross and had a free shot after Lorenz Assignon opted to go down clutching his face rather than defend his goal, but luckily for him the Ghana winger blazed over from 10 yards.
West Ham thought they had equalised when Ings prodded home but a VAR check showed Antonio was a fraction offside when he chested the ball into his team-mate’s path.
Yet at the start of eight minutes of stoppage time, a product of Burnley’s almost incessant time-wasting, Ings collected a pass from Kudus, turned and fired through Trafford.
The £12million signing from Aston Villa in January last year almost won it moments later but his shot crashed back off the crossbar.
