Swansea 0 West Ham 0: After their first spot kick in 56 Premier League matches the previous weekend, Swansea manager Michael Laudrup bristled with frustration that his side were denied another in the closing seconds.
With 93 minutes on the clock, Nathan Dyer collected the ball in the West Ham penalty area and delivered a right-foot cross that struck Joe Cole on an elbow. But the assistant referee on that side of the field kept his flag down and referee Phil Dowd waved play on, much to the annoyance of the Swansea players, several of whom surrounded the officials at the final whistle.
On balance this was a fair result – West Ham’s 4-6-0 formation had much the better of the first half and should have scored during that period, although Laudrup saw things differently and was particularly upset with the penalty decision.
“I think we deserved more, [Jussi, the West Ham goalkeeper] Jaaskelainen made two or three fantastic saves,” said Laudrup. “Then a lot of emotion in the end was about the penalty not given . . . We have had penalties against us for things like that.”
For Allardyce, who again started without a striker, it was a mixed afternoon. West Ham have lost only once in their opening five league games on their travels, which is in stark contrast to their dismal form on the road last season, but this could have been all three points if they had taken any one of several decent first-half chances.
Swansea improved in the second half but they were still way short of their best.
Guardian Service
