Mark Noble thought West Ham’s resilience in the face of Crystal Palace pressure was going to carry them over the line to three precious points at Selhurst Park on Saturday.
The Hammers led 2-0 at the break, only for the Eagles to come roaring back in the second period, scoring an early penalty and then remaining on the front foot for the rest of the game.
Joe Hart saved brilliantly from Wilfried Zaha and Yohan Cabaye, and when ex-Hammer James Tomkins hit the bar in stoppage time, it looked as if Palace’s chance had passed.
West Ham skipper Noble was convinced his team was going to hold on, only for Zaha to snatch a couple of points away from them with the last kick of the game, meaning the No16 travelled back over the Thames with a feeling of frustration.
“I didn’t think the game was over at half-time,” he explained. “Obviously we played Spurs on Wednesday and we were 2-0 down at half-time in that game. The game is never over, but we gave them two goals really.
“We scored two great goals, two goals away from home and we dug in. I thought the defenders played tremendously well, but as I have said many, many times, you get punished if you make mistakes in this league and that’s what we did.
“We’ve got to learn how to see games out, it’s as simple as that. As you can tell I’m really disappointed because I thought we did enough to win the game. They had a lot of pressure in the second half, but you’re going to get that.”
Noble returned to the starting XI for the trips to Spurs and Palace this week and he was pleased to play his part in those performances.
As you can tell I’m really disappointed because I thought we did enough to win the game
Mark Noble
He added: “We’ve got a really big squad – we had Andy Carroll, Marko Arnautovic, Michail Antonio and Arthur Masuaku sitting on our bench at Palace. You’re not going to play every week, we know that, and normally if you win every week it’s an easier job for the manager, but if you’re not he has to make some changes and that’s what he’s done.
“I did say that it’s a team game, not an individual game, and the fightback against Spurs was fantastic.
“The games don’t get any easier, we have Liverpool at home and after not playing well enough in our last home game we have to be better on Saturday.”