West Ham 2 West Brom 2: Watch highlights as Slaven Bilic vents fury by destroying TV microphone after Jonny Evans heads home last gasp Baggies equaliser
Bilic was incredulous having seen Sofiane Feghouli's first half goal ridiculously disallowed for offside
SLAVEN BILIC is likely to be charged for more than just the TV microphone he broke after Jonny Evans' last minute West Brom equaliser.
The West Ham boss will no doubt have caught the eye of the FA's Disciplinary Committee after being left furious about a bizarre decision to disallow Sofiane Feghouli's first half goal.
Algerian star Feghouli fired the ball into the an empty net with Craig Dawson down injured in the six yard box.
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But the linesman incredibly failed to spot the West Brom defender and raised his flag.
Nacer Chadli opened the scoring for the Baggies on six minutes with one of the goals of the season.
The former Tottenham striker showed the skill that convinced Tony Pulis to stump up £13m for his signature when he pulled off an outrageous 6th minute nutmeg on Cheikhou Kouyate before firing through Darren Randolph's legs.
And West Brom could have made it 2-0 when Salomon Rondon hit the bar with a brilliant volley from outside the box.
Then came the moment that enraged Bilic, when Feghouli's goal was chalked off.
The former Valencia man did net in the 63rd minute when he tapped in the rebound after Manuel Lanzini's shot was pushed onto the bar by Ben Foster.
Michail Antonio was favourite to get there but smartly realised he was offside and moved out the way for Feghouli to score.
With five minutes left, Lanzini thought he had won it for West Ham when he fired a thunderbolt into the bottom corner from the edge of the box.
But Evans had the final word to help West Brom bring a precious point back to the Black Country.
STATS, FACTS, GOALS & LOLS
- THIS was not a day for the purists and nor for thousands of West Ham season ticket holders, who gave this one a miss.
- HATS off to the Hammers-supporting family who delivered a good luck message to their heroes on the stadium’s big screens before kick-off revealing: “We’ve come all the way from Great Yarmouth.” Wow! Not many people leave there and end up somewhere even worse.
- ENGLAND boss Gareth Southgate had a wasted trip to watch Andy Carroll as the Hammers striker was ruled out with a groin strain. Southgate’s day got even worse when Aaron Cresswell went off at half time. Let’s hope his day was not totally ruined and that he was able to do some late night shopping afterwards in nearby Westfield.
- NACER CHADLI put West Brom 1-0 up in the sixth minute when he nutmegged Cheikhou Kouyate in the box and fired a shot through the legs of West Ham keeper Darren Randolph.
- HAMMERS boss Slaven Bilic was furious with ref Michael Oliver for allowing the goal to stand as he felt Sofiane Feghouli had been fouled by Chris Brunt in the build-up.
- AND Bilic was even angrier at the whistler for ruling out what West Ham felt was a legitimate 15th minute equaliser from Feghouli for offside. Hammers players surrounded Oliver and their No2 Nikola Jurcevic was sent to the stands for running halfway down the touchline to remonstrate with assistant. But the replays showed Michail Antonio was running back from an offside position when the ball was played back into the mixer, even though Craig Dawson was lying injured in the six yard box
- FEGHOULI did finally get on the scoresheet when he hooked in the equaliser in the 63rd minute after Manuel Lanzini’s shot had hit the crossbar.
BIG PICTURE
Next five fixtures
WEST HAM
Feb 25 - Watford (A)
Mar 6 - Chelsea (H)
Mar 11 - Bournemouth (A)
Mar 18 - Leicester (H)
Apr 1 - Hull (A)
WEST BROM
Feb 25 - Bournemouth (H)
Mar 4 - Crystal Palace (H)
Mar 11 - Everton (A)
Mar 18 - Arsenal (H)
Apr 1 - Man United (A)
PLAYER RATINGS
WEST HAM: Randolph 5, Kouyate 6, Reid 6, Fonte 6, Cresswell 5 (Calleri 46), Obiang 6, Noble 6, Feghouli 7 (Collins 90+2, 6), Lanzini 8, Snodgrass 7 (Fernandes 87, 5), Antonio 7
Subs not used: Adrian, Byram, Nordtveit, A Fletcher
Booked: Obiang, Reid, Noble
Goals: Feghouli 63', Lanzini 85'
WEST BROM: Foster 6, Nyom 7, Dawson 6, McAuley 8, Brunt 6, Livermore 7, D Fletcher 6, Chadli 7 (Evans 53, 6), Morrison 6 (Yacob 79, 6), Phillips 6 (Robson-Kanu 67, 6), Rondon 6
Subs not used: Myhill, Olsson, M Wilson, McClean
Booked: Rondon, Brunt
Goals: Chadli 6', Evans 90+4'
STAR MAN: MANUEL LANZINI (West Ham)
SOCIAL SAYS
WHAT THEY SAID
West Ham manager Slaven Bilic could not hide his fury with referee Michael Oliver.
He said: "When are on the wrong side of all the decisions it makes you very angry.
"The referee was very bad, very bad today.
"It [smashing the microphone] was nothing personal but it [West Brom's equaliser] was the fourth, maybe fifth big decision to go against us."
West Brom manager Tony Pulis was proud of his team after they earned a last gasp point.
He said: "I'm just delighted for them [West Brom's players].
"Second half West Ham had lots of the ball but if you work the game out we were very good first half.
"Jonny [Evans] will be banging the door down now having got the goal.
"He needs the games and he needs the fitness but I thought Gareth [McAuley] and Daws [Craig Dawson] played very well up to that point."