EPL: Blind rescues Man Utd, Crouch denies Newcastle

Sport360 staff 22:35 08/02/2015
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Mail
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • WhatsApp
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Over the moon: Daley Blind (l) celebrates scoring United's late leveler.

    West Ham were denied a first Premier League win over Manchester United in seven years and 13 attempts by Daley Blind’s stoppage-time strike.

    The Hammers had looked like enhancing their European hopes and denting Manchester United’s bid for Champions League football when makeshift defender Cheikhou Kouyate twice juggled the ball before, with his third touch, hitting a superb volley on the turn into the net.

    Radamel Falcao missed a glorious opportunity to equalise 14 minutes from time, but Blind popped up to score late on and earn a 1-1 draw for the visitors, who finished the game with 10 men as Luke Shaw was sent off for two bookable offences.

    Wayne Rooney, Falcao, Angel di Maria, Adnan Januzaj and Robin van Persie all started for Manchester United against an injury-depleted West Ham, who deployed midfielder Kouyate in central defence.

    The fact goalkeeper David de Gea was the away team’s best player after 30 minutes, saving twice from Enner Valencia, told how Louis van Gaal’s expensively assembled side struggled to assert themselves.

    Kouyate (r) celebrates handing his side the lead.

    Kouyate’s deflected strike, after Rooney’s poor header, sparked United into life, but they had not won away from home after conceding first since December 2013, and not at all under Van Gaal.

    But they avoided following Liverpool and Manchester City in leaving Upton Park defeated this term as Blind swept the ball into the net when Carl Jenkinson, on his 23rd birthday, failed to clear Marcos Rojo’s lofted ball into the box.

    It was harsh on West Ham but extended Manchester United’s unbeaten away run in the Premier League to seven games.

     

    Stoke boss Mark Hughes accused referee Kevin Friend of not being brave enough to send off Newcastle midfielder Jack Colback during a hard-fought draw at St James Park. 

    Colback looked to have snatched victory for the Magpies with a 74th-minute strike just three minutes after escaping a second yellow card – he had earlier been cautioned for a foul on Marc Muniesa – for a late challenge on Victor Moses.

    The Potters hit back in the final minute of normal time when substitute Peter Crouch levelled to claim a 1-1 draw but Hughes, who was sent to the stands in the corresponding fixture last season after Glenn Whelan and Marc Wilson were dismissed in a 5-1 drubbing, was far from placated. 

    Colback (r) scored after avoiding a red card.

    He said: “The disappointment, as you would imagine, is the fact that the referee wasn’t brave enough to make the right decision at a key moment in the game.

    “Given the yellow cards that were dished out, not only to ourselves, but to Newcastle as well and given the nature of the offences that caused him to give yellow cards, for him not to give a yellow card to the lad Colback when it was clearly a second yellow.

    “We are not here advocating we want players sent off, but the referee needs to be strong and make the right decision there, and unfortunately he didn’t.”

    Opposite number John Carver, however, thought Friend had got it right.

     

    He said: “Jack is a very, very competitive footballer and we are not going to change that, we are not going to take that out of him. But I thought the referee handled the game extremely well, because there were a few tackles went unpunished. This is a competitive game – you can’t tell me that Whelan and Nzonzi and Bardsley aren’t competitors.”

    Brown Ideye was West Brom‘s unlikely saviour as they fought back from two down to draw 2-2 at fellow strugglers Burnley.

    The Baggies’ record signing almost left the club in the final hours of the winter transfer window on Monday but came off the bench at half-time at Turf Moor to head in the equaliser.

    Burnley were two up inside 32 minutes through Ashley Barnes and Danny Ings but Chris Brunt pulled one back just before half-time for Albion.

     

    It was a first Premier League goal of the season for Brunt, who lost the captain’s armband to deadline-day signing Darren Fletcher.

    The point was enough for Burnley to climb back out of the relegation zone but they desperately needed all three with an extremely tough run of fixtures coming up.

    Recommended