West Ham hold on for gritty draw with Leeds to ease pressure on David Moyes
By Jason Mellor, at Elland Road
David Moyes felt a battling display from West Ham provided a fitting tribute to David Gold.
A first goal for the club from £51 million record signing Lucas Paqueta helped earn a valuable point, and while they remain without a Premier League victory for more than two months, West Ham at least snapped a damaging five-game losing streak after a topsy-turvy contest neither side deserved to win.
Both teams wore black armbands, with a bouquet and West Ham shirt placed on the directors’ box seat where the joint-chairman, who died on Wednesday morning after a short illness, had been due to sit.
Moyes’ six consecutive defeats 17 years ago during his time in charge at Everton remains his career nadir, although plenty more is required from his current charges as they remain separated from the relegation zone on goal difference.
The manager said: “David was incredibly supportive of me personally, he was a regular visitor to the training ground and he was a good man, a sensible man, so it’s a big miss for us and of course for his family.
“We heard the sad news mid-morning and he will be missed. He hasn’t been well for a little while now so we’re all really saddened. It feels like a step in the right direction even though we felt like we could have won. We fought hard for this result and when we went ahead I thought we’d go on to win it.”
Brenden Aaronson made a gift of West Ham’s second goal, drilled expertly into the bottom corner from outside the area by Gianluca Scamacca 43 seconds after the restart when the Italian pounced on an errant pass from the midfielder.
The US international was put out of his misery when he was hauled off by his compatriot Jesse Marsch soon afterwards. “I hugged him when he came off and then I spoke to him after the match,” the head coach said. “He feels down right now but I know he believes in himself and so do I.”
The visitors equalised in first-half stoppage-time thanks to the intervention of Var. On review, referee David Coote changed his decision after initially missing Pascal Struijk’s foul on Jarrod Bowen. Brazil midfielder Paqueta, at the end of a far from convincing stuttering run-up, found the left hand corner of Illan Meslier’s net despite the Frenchman diving the right way to score for the first time since moving from Lyon in the summer.
Leeds had broken the deadlock with their first serious threat on goal after 28 minutes. Rodrigo flicked on a throw from halfway, allowing Willy Gnonto to swap passes with Crysencio Summerville before thrashing a low effort beyond Lukasz Fabianski into the bottom corner from the edge of the area to open the young Italian forward’s account following his move from FC Zurich in September.
Rodrigo’s impressive 70th-minute equaliser means it is now 20 goals in the last four games at Elland Road, which has become a byword for entertaining if not always the highest quality football in recent months. The Spaniard found the bottom corner from 18 yards with his left foot after good work from Tyler Adams and substitute Jack Harrison created an opening which the forward finished off in stunning style.
Marsch, who said that Polish midfielder Mateusz Klich is likely to join MLS side DC United this month, added: “I’m frustrated it took us going a goal down to start playing to our ability. It’s my job to have to push the buttons to get them to perform like they’re down a goal and become the team I know they can be, I guess.”
Two fine late saves from Fabianski to deny Rodrigo mean Leeds have won just twice in the last 15 games to leave them two points above the bottom three. Marsch added: “When we play against teams in and around us you can see there’s a bit of fear about the players, they care so much that they don’t want to make any mistakes. We’re giving it our best but we’re not putting it all together yet.”
