DANNY SAVES THE HAMMERS FROM CLARET AND BOOS

Ings to the rescue in incredible finish

- MIKE WALTERS

WEST HAM 2

BURNLEY 2

DANNY INGS has a great future behind him, but his 16-minute cameo from the bench saved West Ham’s blushes. 

In an astonishing finish, Ings thought he had rescued a point for the Hammers with his first touch against his former club, only to be thwarted by VAR snooping.

Then the Irons substitute did make it 2-2 with a smart turn and finish in the first of eight added minutes, his first Premier League goal in 13 months.

And there was still time for Ings to crash a volley against the bar in the 96th minute before the madness was over.

When it was safe to draw breath at the London Stadium, neither the patrons of cor blimey heartlands nor the no-nay-never diehards were satisfied with a point.

In a nutshell, this is why Burnley are going down. The Hammers, booed off at the interval, were utterly wretched in the first half. They were there for the taking – and the Clarets, two goals up, still couldn’t finish them off.

But for West Ham, this was an even worse result. If they are going to qualify for Europe again through their league position, there can be no excuse for their atrocious opening 45 minutes.

Play like that again in their second leg against Freiburg on Thursday night and it will be Auf Wiedersehen to the Europa League.