Fulham’s Ademola Lookman saw his injury-time Panenka penalty saved as West Ham dramatically beat their London rivals 1-0 on Saturday.
West Ham thought they had sealed victory late on when Tomas Soucek scored in the 91st minute, with a low shot from just inside the box. However, the game wasn’t over.
Said Benrahma, who assisted Soucek’s goal, tripped Fulham’s Tom Cairney in the penalty area during the final minute. The penalty was given by VAR after an anxious wait which saw the referee go to the pitch-side monitor.
Lookman stepped up and chipped a terrible penalty into the hands of Hammers goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski, who had time to get back up after his dive to save comfortably.
Lookman left the field visibly devastated as Fulham suffered yet another loss.
Fulham Held Firm
There were few chances outside of the action-packed opening 10 minutes. Fulham goalkeeper, Alphonse Areola, made two brilliant saves to deny Aaron Cresswell and Jarrod Bowen early on.
West Ham also hit the bar twice later in the game, with a Sebastien Haller header and Cresswell again, this time from a free kick.
Fulham have struggled so far this season but they defended well throughout and frustrated the east London side. Despite this, they had nothing to show for their efforts.
Pitiful Panenka
Speaking to Match of the Day, Fulham boss, Scott Parker said:
“I’m disappointed and angry. You can’t take penalties like that and he knows that. He’s a young player and he’s learning.”
Captain Cairney said:
“Ademola is devastated and apologetic. We’ll get around him and pick him up, he knows he could have got us a point.”
VAR Controversy
Speaking to BBC Sport, David Moyes admitted his side were a little lucky to get the three points:
“We didn’t play as well as what we have done in previous games.”
He also mentioned he wasn’t a fan of the new offside rule despite his team benefiting from it. Haller could have been deemed offside in the build-up to the Hammers’ goal.
“It’s a really tough call on Fulham because I believe its not a good rule, I think Seb [Haller] does run offside”, said Moyes.
High Spirits
Also, speaking to whufc.com after the game, Lukasz Fabianski said:
“The ending was crazy, emotions were raising and raising, and they went through the roof. We really wanted to win this game and lucky enough we managed to do it.”
Looking Ahead
After the international break, West Ham travel to Sheffield United on Sunday 22nd November.
