Javier Hernández rescues point for West Ham against Bournemouth
Paul MacInnes at the London Stadium
Date Published Sat 20 Jan 2018 17.08 GMT

This game came and went in almost 60 seconds. Ryan Fraser’s sweet strike gave the visitors an unlikely lead only for it to be cancelled out in little over a minute by a typical finish from Javier Hernández.

That aside, it was a match of missed opportunities. For David Moyes there was not only two home points dropped against a bottom-half rival but two more injuries to a threadbare West Ham squad. Aaron Cresswell limped off with cramp in the final knockings and Manuel Lanzini will have to undergo a scan after apparently damaging a hamstring. Eddie Howe, meanwhile, said he was frustrated not to have left with three points but Bournemouth were there for the taking for much of the match.

“We’re disappointed because the team that took the lead should be able to hold on in that situation,” he said. “We were pretty slow out of the traps and did well not to concede under early pressure. It was a similar start to the second half but then we scored the goal. I thought that might be good enough but it wasn’t to be.”

Howe was full of praise for Fraser who ran on to a through-ball from the substitute Junior Stanislas before smashing it home with his left foot for his fifth goal of the season. “When players from the wings start scoring regularly, it’s fantastic,” Howe said.

Crafted from fast incisive play, it was the type of goal West Ham had been threatening to score themselves. But the home side’s equaliser, straight from the restart, was the result of a long ball and a flick on, before Hernández pounced on Marko Arnautovic’s blocked shot with trademark alacrity.

“We played well but missed a cutting edge,” Moyes said of his second game of the week, Tuesday’s FA Cup replay with Shrewsbury running to extra time before West Ham won 1-0.

“For me it’s progress. The players who’ve been a handful all year didn’t quite have the magic we needed but with 15 to go, we were on our knees. I’d have taken a point then.”

It is seven matches unbeaten for West Ham, a statistic Moyes was not unaware of. But in that opening spell, during which Arnautovic and Lanzini ran riot, his team played some of their best football under their new manager and it was notable the crowd showed their appreciation.

Moyes said: “I’ve been looking for more and there were bits of that more today.”