West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic felt the 1-1 draw against West Brom was a fair result but was disappointed that his side could not make the most of their best first half display this season.
Bilic was thrilled with how his team responded in the opening 45 minutes following the disappointing result against Tottenham last week and saw his side get off to the perfect start when Mauro Zarate fired the home side into the lead in spectacular fashion with an impressive free-kick.
Zarate and Manuel Lanzini had chances to extend the lead and stole the show in the first half as they caused all kinds of problems for the West Brom defence.
But the Hammers failed to make their superiority count and the Midlands side grabbed an equaliser shortly after half-time when Rickie Lambert saw his shot deflect off Winston Reid and into the back of the net.
Bilic's side were unable to find the crucial second and had to settle for a point at the Boleyn Ground for the second consecutive home game.
Bilic said: “At the end you cannot say it wasn't a fair result. In the first half it was one of the best in this part of the season.
“We played really well and created good chances. Their keeper made a couple of great saves. We were pleased at half-time with the way we played.
“I asked the players to continue like that and keep the momentum high. We started the second half well but then we conceded a goal and it affected us a lot.
“It gives a boost to the team who scores. We had a few more chances but the game was not so fluent from us in the second half.
“Manuel and Mauro were involved in most of the moves and they dropped a bit in the second half because they used up a lot of energy in the first half.
“When they dropped a little bit we also dropped and we are not happy with one point but we have to admit it was a fair result.”
Bilic was not surprised to see Zarate open the scoring with a superb free-kick and says he practices set-pieces all the time in training.
Bilic added: “Mauro has got it and it is a natural talent he has got with the way he shoots the ball. Whether it is from free-kicks or open play when he scored against Chelsea.
“He practices that every day in training and it wasn't a surprise to see him do that. It was a great goal.”
Diafra Sakho was forced to leave the field on 74 minutes after he picked up an injury when he struck the ball into the side netting.
The Senegal forward will now see a specialist to see how long he will be ruled out of action.
Bilic said: “We still have to wait and the specialist will see him to give an opinion. It looks like a muscle injury and the first news is not the best. It is a big blow.
“You can see injuries in every Club and to be fair the number who are missing is not a lot, but the ones missing are key players who play in the same position. It is very hard to replace them.”
Bilic will now focus his attention on the next big away game against Manchester United next Saturday, but he sees no reason why the team cannot repeat their heroic displays against Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City and pick up another memorable away victory.
“We have shown home or away that we can take the game to any side and I am expecting something from this game.”