‘Baffled’ - David Moyes frustration as home fan pitch invader ruins West Ham counter attack
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Updated 08/04/2022 at 09:04 GMT
West Ham manager David Moyes says he was “baffled” when a pitch invader - who came out of the home end - ran on to the field to stop a rare counter attack during their 1-1 first leg draw with Lyon in the quarter-finals of the Europa League. Moyes’ team battled to a draw, despite playing a half with 10-men following Aaron Cresswell’s controversial red card.
David Moyes and his West Ham side had a frustrating evening against Lyon
Image credit: Getty Images
West Ham boss David Moyes says he was “baffled” that a pitch invasion ruined an opportunity to score as his 10-men battled to a 1-1 draw with Lyon in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final in London.
Aaron Cresswell was controversially sent off late in the first half after the referee decided he had brought down Moussa Dembele as the last man - despite the striker being forced wide and Kurt Zouma seemingly backing him up as cover.
A wink from the French striker indicated he may have gone down deliberately easily, adding to a frustrating evening for West Ham. It meant the home side were on the back foot for the rest of the game and despite taking the lead through Jarrod Bowen, Lyon’s on-loan Tottenham midfielder Tanguy Ndombele equalised.
West Ham kept the game tight and they had limited attacking opportunities, until a breakaway was thwarted by a fan who ran on to the pitch - the second such incident during the match.
"I was baffled," said Moyes, "This is a really good football club doing so many good things.
"But those things tonight didn't help, we were on a counter-attack with an opportunity to score."
Moyes was careful not to criticise referee Felix Zwayer too much for the red card, but thought Cresswell should not have been put in that situation in the first place.
"The only thing I'm going to say is there was a tackle on Bowen which was a foul,” he said.
“It was the same phase of play as the red card, and I would have expected VAR to do something about it. I'm certainly not going to talk about the referee, not at all.
"It was not a good performance by us but it was a resilient performance in the second half with 10 men.
"We didn't have much of the ball in the second half. Technically they were very good, but we defended well and made it hard for them."
The second leg takes place in France next Thursday (April 14).
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