West Ham 1-1 Blackburn: Hitzlsperger gives rock-bottom Hammers lifeline but top flight status hangs by a thread

EPL : Jason Roberts – Robert Green, West Ham United v Blackburn Rovers

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West Ham United scored a late equaliser against Blackburn Rovers, but Thomas Hitzlsperger’s strike wasn’t enough to lift the Hammers of the bottom of the Premier League.

The pressure was on Avram Grant’s side to get a result if they had any hope of moving off the foot of the table and clear of the relegation zone. 

There was a frantic start to the match at Upton Park and Morten Gamst Pedersen went close after just two minutes, when his shot deflected just wide.

Martin Olsson was then forced into a goalline clearance to deny Manuel Da Costa’s goalbound effort to keep Blackburn level.

The home side couldn’t hold on for long and after a slick Rovers move, Brett Emerton’s cross was turned in from close range by Jason Roberts to open the scoring in the 13^th minute.

The Hammers were struggling to test Paul Robinson but when Freddie Sears hit a powerful effort on target shortly before half-time, it took a great save from the goalkeeper to keep Blackburn’s lead intact.

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Robbie Keane replaced Louis Boa Morte after the restart as Avram Grant looked to bolster his attacking options.

It was West Ham who were on top and they continued to push the visitors further up the pitch but to no avail.

With 15 minutes left on the clock, Carlton Cole’s cross was turned wide by the head of Demba Ba and hopes of a West Ham riposte were starting to slim.

Then as Cole passed to Thomas Hitzlsperger three minutes later, the German drilled a powerful shot past Robinson from outside the area to level the scores to the delight of the home crowd.

With just minutes left in the game Frederic Piquionne crossed to Keane and with the chance to win the game from close range, the Irishman got his shot all wrong to let Blackburn off the hook.

The Hammers continued to press but even with four minutes of injury time they could find no end product for their pressure and a hard fought point was not enough to help them in their fight against relegation.