Slaven Bilic breathes sigh of relief as Diafra Sakho leaves it late for West Ham against Swansea
West Ham 1 Swansea 0: Substitute Sakho may have saved Bilic's job for another couple of weeks
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Diafra Sakho turned the jeered to cheers in just the nick of time for West Ham manager Slaven Bilic.
The last-gasp winner from substitute Sakho might have even saved Bilic his job in a poor performance that had seen the supporters turn on the Croatian and his players.
The Hammers manager had come under the microscope following a sluggish start to the season. But they moved out of the bottom three here where it looked like it would not bode well for the Bilic heading into the international break.
Instead he was rescued by Sakho's 90th minute winner, pouncing on fellow substitute Arthur Masuaku's cross.
Bilic could point to West Ham's tough start to the season but their lowly position, given the summer outlay, was not where the owners or supporters figured they would be.
A run of winnable games would have given Bilic some comfort. This game was one of them.
And they were almost were presented with the perfect chance in the opening minutes. Michail Antonio met Aaron Cresswell's cross on the volley which was pushed aside by Lukasz Fabianksi before the rebound was scrambled clear to safety.
The Swansea goalkeeper kept a clean sheet but was was kept busy by Tottenham earlier this month. He could expect another difficult afternoon across London if this start was anything to go by.
But Swansea, despite their struggles have proved a tough nut to crack so far this season on the road having failed to concede in their previous three games outside of Wales this season.
The problem was Swansea was at the other end. Wilfried Bonny had been brought back to the club to rectify that and he almost had his first goal since rejoining Swansea in the 15h minute.
Bony found space before bringing a flying save out of Joe Hart with a powerful 25-yard drive when afforded too much time and space.
With Bony partnered by Tammy Abraham in a two-man attack, it was a warning to West Ham that Swansea would not just sit back and allow the hosts to dictate proceedings.
Besides Antonio's early effort, West Ham had created little.
Swansea looked the more likely and the home supporters were becoming increasingly frustrated that they seven booed their own team after a passage of play which ended with the ball back at Hart's feet.
The atmosphere was in danger of turning poisonous given the nature of West Ham;s woeful first-half display. Chances were at a premium so it was no surprise to see the home supporters voice their displeasure at what they had seen.
The level of performance could not get get much worse if you were a West Ham fan. And there immediately appeared to be more attacking intent shown, with Andy Carroll just failing to turn home Antonio's deep cross in the 52nd minute.
Swansea, who replaced Bony at the break, were all of a sudden on the backfoot and less of a presence in attack.
Not that West Ham were looking a threat with the fit-again Manuel Lanzini introduced on the hour mark to inject some life into a poor display.
It seemed West Ham's best hope of a breakthrough was a along punt to Carroll and for his team-mates to pick up any loose ball. But Carroll was getting little change out of Federico Fernandez and Alfie Mawson.
And it was Swansea who finally mustered the next attempt on goal in a game which put stale into stalemate. Martin Olsson cut in onto his right-foot but his curling shot drifted the wrong side of their post in the 75th minute.
The latest jeers which greeted Javier Hernandez's withdrawal only highlighted the growing discontent towards the Croatian manager.
This bore draw was heading to a close when Carroll's shot diverted off the crossbar and to safety before Sakho's dramatic intervention moments later.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments