West Ham caught a lucky break as a dominant Blackburn side failed to take all three points thanks to a late penalty save from Raphael Spiegel, writes Holly Davies.
A defensive blunder allowed Rovers to take an early lead with Anton Forrester, before Sam Ford slotted home a penalty 12 minutes before full time.
Once again manager Terry Westley fielded a rather young squad with five of the starting XI coming from U18’s level. This may have become a factor in the side’s recent form in not recording a win in four games.
Within four minutes a poor back header from Doneil Henry gave Forrester the opportunity to slot the ball past Spiegel in the West Ham goal.
Rovers hit the post twice in quick succession threatening a second goal, whereas West Ham had failed to have a shot on target, with Rovers goalie Andrew Fisher having little to do.
The Hammers struggled to produce their usual possession-based style of play, with mis-placed passing all over the pitch.
Scramble
West Ham pushed for an equaliser late on in the first half, but couldn’t manage to break through the Rovers defence.
Gradually, the hosts started moving the ball with more urgency and accuracy. The best chance of the first half for West Ham came after a corner, where Henry and Alfie Lewis both came close followed by a scramble to get the ball over the line, but Fisher came out to claim the ball.
With eight minutes to play, Grady Diangana was bundled over in the box and was, correctly, awarded a penalty. Striker Ford scored his second goal in two games as he converted the penalty, calmly slotting the ball under Fisher into the bottom right corner
The game looked lost for West Ham with just five minutes left, when Forrester was tripped in the box and was awarded a penalty, giving the visitors a perfect opportunity to grab all the three points – but a great save from Spiegel denied Rovers regaining the lead.
With a draw Monday night, the young Hammers are sitting sixth on the table, one point off a play-off position. With only three games left, Westley’s side will have to improve their performance considerably in order to keep their promotion dream alive.