Key events
82 min This would be a fine win for West Ham, who are without Aguerd, Kudus, Alvarez, Lucas Paqueta, Antonio and Benrahma.
80 min: Double substitution for Sheffield United Rhian Brewster and Rhys Norrington-Davies come on for Auston Trusty and Andre Brooks.
GOAL! Sheff Utd 1-2 West Ham (Ward-Prowse 79 pen)
James Ward-Prowse launches the penalty straight down the middle and then tees off in front of a delirious away end. As he walks back to the centre circle he makes a point of, well, pointing at Danny Ings, who has made both goals today,
Ings wriggled away from Robinson just inside the area before an overkeen Hamer kicked the back off his foot. It wasn’t as clear as I thought at first, but it won’t be overturned.
Penalty to West Ham! Ings turns brilliantly in the area and has his feet taken away by Hamer. It looked a clear penalty.
75 min Ahmedhodzic is booked for something or other.
74 min Just before that, Foderingham apparently made a terrific save to deny Ings. I didn’t see it because technology, but I’ll let you know what happened if I see a replay.
74 min Archer has a shot from distance that is blocked by Zouma. There’s a West Ham player down on the far side; they are unsurprisingly starting to look pretty tired.
71 min McAtee beats a couple of defenders on the edge of the area… and then the TV picture freezes! What the actual? He didn’t score, that’s all I know.
70 min: West Ham substitution Ben Johnson on, Maxwel Cornet off, so both goalscorers have done one. He’s gone into midfield alongside Soucek and Ward-Prowse.
68 min There hasn’t been a shot on target at either end in the second half.
67 min: Sheff Utd substitution Cameron Archer replaces Ben Brereton Diaz, who emptied the tank for 66 minutes and scored a terrific equaliser.
65 min West Ham don’t have any experienced attacking options on the bench, but the full-back Ben Johnson is getting ready to come on.
64 min West Ham have weathered the storm and are having a decent spell of their own. Bowen cuts inside and has a shot blocked by a combination of Trusty and Vinicius Junior.
61 min Brooks’s shot from the edge of the D hits Mavropanos and bounces through to Areola. This won’t end 1-1.
60 min At the other end Cornet has a shot well blocked by the lunging Ahmedhodzic.
58 min: Brereton Diaz misses an excellent chance! McAtee moseys infield, in his own half, and angles a superb through ball to Brereton Diaz. He times his run perfectly from left to right, gallops purposefully into the area… and drags a shot wide of the far post. Unlike the goal, he had a lot of time to think about that chance.
57 min: Chance efor McBurnie! Hamer curls the free-kick beyond the far post, where McBurnie is unmarked. His header back across goal is blocked, but the ball comes back to him and he swishes a volley over the ball. The angle was very tight.
56 min Cornet is penalised for handball just outside the penalty area. He doesn’t agree with the decision, and replays, though not conclusive, suggest he might have a point.
54 min Sheffield United are starting to dominate possession, though I guess that has never really bothered this West Ham team. Both teams will feel the game is there for the taking.
52 min A short corner is eventually headed over by Trusty at the far post. I doubt it registered even 0.05 on xG.
52 min “I’ll wholeheartedly endorse your campaign against “bottom-feeders” if you reciprocate and use your influence to also eradicate “prop up the table”,” writes Eric Peterson. “A phrase that connotes strength and sturdiness applied to the worst of a lot is absurd.
“(P.S. I took a quick trip down the “wooden spoon” rabbit hole. An object created amidst the elite of Victorian academia to mock those whose pending rewards from their education dwarfs their feeble scholarly contributions smacks of an irony to which those of accidental and overwhelming birth privilege are simply not inherently well-suited.)”
51 min It’s been an uneventful start to the second half. The moment I typed that, McAtee teases a gorgeous cross from the right that just evades the stretching McBurnie and bounces through to Areola. He has so much talent, that lad.
48 min Coufal’s long throw from the right is helped on by Soucek and headed away by Trusty (I think).
46 min Peep peep!
Sheffield United are making a half-time substitution Oli McBurnie for Will Osula, who might be injured as he played well in the first half.
Half-time reading
Bottom-feeder latest
“Not a fan of most Americanisms (esp ‘get-go’ and ‘standout’, not to mention ‘quarterbacking from deep’), but I quite liked the following effort,” says John Moloney. “I once (back in my military days, Boer War era) asked a young USAF officer wtf was going on. His reply was ‘no use asking me, sir, I am so low down the food chain I got plankton bites on my butt’. I never did find out wtf was going on however.”
“We’re all friends here, right?” says Simon McMahon. “Good, so please forgive me for mentioning that the World Indoor Bowls final is just about to start, featuring two Scots, and that this companion piece to the Scotland men’s football team boogie-ing in the changing room, once seen, cannot be unseen.”
“The careers of both Brereton Diaz and Maxwel Cornet seemed to have derailed this season, and so from a human perspective it’s lovely to see both of them on the scoresheet,” says Kári Tulinius. “It’s always sad to see a talented, skilful footballer struggle to show their best. These goals could spark a revival for both scorers.”
I’m not sure it will for Cornet, as he’s so far down the cab rank at West Ham, but it certainly could for Brereton Diaz. My colleague Michael Butler, who supports Blackburn, says he tended to score goals in clusters when he was at Ewood Park.
It’s also interesting that, even at a time when his confidence was low, his instinct kicked in and reminded him how good a finisher he can be.
Half time: Sheffield United 1-1 West Ham
Interesting stuff at Bramall Lane, where two goal droughts came to an end. Maxwel Cornet scored his first goal for West Ham since joining the club in August 2022, and it felt like the same old story for Sheffield United until Ben Brereton Diaz scored a terrific equaliser just before half-time. It was his first goal of the season in his 28th game.
The scoreline is about right, and Sheffield United have an exceedingly big 45 minutes coming up. They surely have to win this game.
45+2 min Osula, who has been a handful for the West Ham defence, makes space for a shot that hits Mavropanos and flies over the bar.
45+1 min A dodgy squarew pass almost puts Sheffield United in trouble again, but Corner dithers and is dispossessed on the edge of the area.
What an emphatic finish that was. West Ham couldn’t get out from a long throw-in and that eventually led to the goal. McAtee’s long angled ball from the right was cleverly headed into a dangerous area by Trusty, 25 yards from goal. Osula’s header was clawed away by Areola, a pretty good save to his right, but Brereton Diaz reacted superbly to lift the bouncing ball over Ward-Prowse and ram it into the net on the half-volley. He did it all in one continuous, cathartic movement.
It probably helped, as the cliche goes, that he had no time to think. Instinct kicked in and he took the goal beautifully. It’s Brereton Diaz’s first of a miserable season, for club or country. A hitherto miserable season, I should say, because that could spark something.
GOAL! Sheff Utd 1-1 West Ham (Brereton Diaz 44)
Ben Brereton Diaz’s goal drought is over!
42 min Ward-Prowse is booked for a foul on Bogle. He got the ball but the referee decided he’d pulled Bogle back first.
41 min A wicked, dipping corner from Ward-Prowse is screwed wide on the half-volley by Bowen. It wasn’t the easiest chance, especially in such a crowded area, but it was a chance nonetheless.
40 min Bowen turns his man majestically in the area and slides the ball across the six-yard box. It’s half cleared to Ings, whose fierce shot is crucially blocked, I think by Bogle. Whoever it was may have saved a goal
40 min Hamer is booked for pulling back Fornals.