Burnley 1 West Ham 1

Alan Pardew's men earned a well fought point at Turf Moor against Burnley on a bitterly cold Lancashire evening.

  

With a clean bill of health from Saturday's victory over Cardiff City, Alan was able to name an unchanged starting line-up for the third successive league game as Hammers attempted to stretch their unbeaten run away from home to 12 matches.

 

Early on, it seemed we were well on our way to a second successive victory.

 

Inside the first 10 minutes, Connolly came close to giving his side the lead. First he chipped an effort straight at Jensen after being played in by Zamora, then he combined again with his strike partner but saw his low shot again kept out by the Burnley keeper.

 

Moments later, Carrick saw a goalbound effort blocked by a defender, before Connolly again missed a brace of chances, flashing over a Zamora flick-on and then seeing Jensen deny him again, tipping round a curling effort when a square pass to the unmarked Harewood may have been the better option.

 

With Hammers seemingly in the driving seat, it was something of a surprise when the hosts took the lead on the half hour mark with their first real effort of the game. Tomas Repka paid the price with a risky dribble deep in the opposition half, as he was dispossessed and the ball ran on to Blake, who threaded a pass into the penalty area for Branch to slam past Bywater.

 

It was the least Burnley deserved, but Hammers hit back with the perfect response just five minutes later. Zamora's clever turn on the edge of the penalty area deceived McGregor, and the defender's desperate tug as the Hammers striker advanced on goal left referee Dowd no option but to point to the spot.

 

After some deliberation with Harewood - Hammers' only other scorer from the penalty spot this season - Connolly stepped up to send Jensen the wrong way with a calmly-taken kick from 12 yards.

 

Hammers continued to press forward before the break and should really have taken the lead soon after pulling level. Harewood's superb crossfield pass found Reo-Coker in space, but the midfielder took too long with his shot and saw it blocked by a defender.

 

From the resulting corner, Zamora's hooked volley was brilliantly kept out by Jensen, before another cross was met by Harewood, whose flicked header was cleared off the line. On the stroke of half-time, Connolly again broke free but this time chose to square the ball for Zamora and a defender got across to clear.

 

As they trooped off at the interval, Pardew's men should really have had the game sewn up, but it was surely only a matter of time before they made the breakthrough in the second half.

 

Sadly, things didn't work out that way. With the hosts gaining in confidence, Hammers found it much more difficult to breach the Clarets' rearguard after the break.

 

Reo-Coker saw another couple of long-range efforts well saved by Jensen, while Zamora headed Etherington's cross just over the bar, but that was the closest the visitors came to taking the lead.

 

At the other end, Bywater wasn't much busier, but Hammers were almost left with nothing when Blake fired inches wide in the closing stages.

 

The unbeaten run on our travels continues and the point lifts us one place to fifth after Millwall's defeat at Sheffield United.