Burnley 1 West Ham 1: Hammers held to draw after Andy Carroll red card

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Standard Sport14 October 2017

West Ham were denied back-to-back Premier League wins as Slaven Bilic's side were held to a 1-1 draw byt Burnley after Andy Carroll's red card.

Bilic was able to near enough select his first-choice starting XI after a number of injuries this season, and the Hammers took the lead after 19 minutes with route-one football.

Joe Hart cleared the ball long and Burnley's defence failed to deal with it, allowing Michail Antonio to accelerate onto the bouncing ball and round the goalkeeper to finish.

West Ham were in a commanding position, but Carroll put them under pressure with two yellow cards in quick succession for aerial challenges to earn a first-half red card.

The Hammers held on to their lead until the 85th minute, but Chris Wood headed home for the hosts with four minutes left on the clock to deny Bilic.

Carroll was touted for an England recall by team-mate Aaron Cresswell last week, but that particular bandwagon hit the skids as soon as the striker picked up two cautions in as many first-half minutes, elbowing James Tarkowski in the air then barrelling into Ben Mee moments later.

That left the Hammers with more than an hour to protect chail Antonio's freak goal - slotted into an open net after Mee and goalkeeper Nick Pope both failed to connect with the ball - and Wood pounced late to deny the visitors their first back-to-back wins of the season.

The New Zealand striker's fourth of the season places him as a considerably more productive target man than Carroll, while West Ham fans must dream about him being as reliable a member of their dressing room as the tireless Antonio.

His 19th-minute opener at Turf Moor came from nothing more subtle than a muscular heave upfield from Joe Hart.

Antonio set off in pursuit, but would not have got near goal had Mee not entirely failed to make contact nor Pope done anything more than waving both ball and player towards goal.

The only thing left for a baffled but grateful Antonio to do was roll into an open net.

Robbie Brady dragged the hosts into a response, shooting a yard over after brushing off Cheikhou Kouyate and causing flutters in the West Ham defence with a teasing free-kick which just evaded Wood after flicks from Jack Cork and Jose Fonte.

And then Carroll bundled into centre stage. He had already shared a couple of asides with referee Stuart Atwell when he went up with Tarkowski and was penalised for leading with the elbow.

He argued the toss, pleaded innocence and, around 90 seconds later, hurled himself into an even clearer booking, this time leaving his mark on Mee.

The inevitable dismissal followed, with Carroll and Slaven Bilic seemingly alone in their confusion.

The classy Steven Defour joined Brady in leading the Burnley charge, with the latter's deft ball sending Wood through on goal and tumbling after Hart dived at his feet.

It was a persuasive shout, but the England keeper's protestations of innocence, followed by a wagging finger in Wood's direction, suggested he felt otherwise.

There were three changes for the second period, Burnley summoning Sam Vokes and Johann Berg Gudmundsson, while Bilic bolstered with Pedro Obiang.

It made for a wide open second period. Antonio had two golden chances, failing to connect by a matter of inches at the far post then denied by Pope after a snappy passing move involving Obiang, Manuel Lanzini and Javier Hernandez.

Burnley regularly raided the penalty area too, but when Gudmundsson's low drive landed safe after hitting both a post and Hart's back, it began to feel like it was not their day.

Wood eventually salvaged a point, rising to nod Gudmundsson's delivery beyond Hart and compounding Carroll's guilt.

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