West Brom step it up after break to take point

West Ham look like the only team with real ambition in first half

A game of two faces from West Bromwich Albion ended with a share of the points as the visitors staged an uncharacteristic second-half turnaround to salvage a deserved draw.

Albion's equaliser may have been an own goal – Winston Reid deflecting a shot by Rickie Lambert into the net in the 50th minute – but it rewarded a radical improvement on a first period in which West Ham looked like the only team with real ambitions of scoring and should have had more than a splendid goal by Mauro Zarate to prove it.

In particular, Manuel Lanzini crackled with creativity, his movement and trickery trumping Albion's spoiling tactics. Mind you it took a fright to stoke West Ham into action as Salomon Rondon almost capped a fleeting Albion attack with a goal in the 13th minute, his ferocious shot from the corner of the box fizzing just past the far post.

Then West Ham took over. When Gareth McAuley was sanctioned for being too forceful in his bid to subdue Diafra Sakho in the 17th minute, Zarate stepped up and curled an exquisite free-kick into the top corner from 25 yards. Guardian Service