West Ham vs West Brom match report: Winston Reid own goal cancels out Mauro Zarate's superb opener

West Ham United 1 West Bromwich Albion 1

Mauro Zarate celebrates his fantastic opening goal (Getty Images)

To mark the final season at the Boleyn Ground – and persuade people to buy tickets for the inaugural one at the Olympic Stadium – West Ham precede matches with video montages of treasured memories and this season’s highlights. The selling point is that these were moments you had to be here to savour.

The editors will not be spending long on this match when they update the latter video. The Mauro Zarate free-kick that gave West Ham the lead is worthy of inclusion, but the rest is destined for the cutting-room floor. That was largely due to the visitors’ caution and West Ham’s fragile confidence. Albion are efficient. Having beaten Arsenal 2-1 with one shot on target Albion cancelled out Zarate’s strike here before they had any.

With such an approach it helps if the opposition are scoring goals for you. Winston Reid followed last weekend’s miscreant, Mikel Arteta, in getting on the wrong scoresheet when he deflected Rickie Lambert’s shot past his own goalkeeper. Albion, briefly inspired, did then bring two fine saves from Adrian before settling for another point towards survival.

West Brom goalkeeper Boaz Myhill could not get near Zarate's effort (Getty Images)

This was still, by Albion’s standards, a high-scoring away match. The previous six in the league had produced seven goals. It may be tough to watch, despite the class of Jonny Evans and Darren Fletcher, but it works. Albion are eight points clear of the relegation zone and can be confident they will be at the table when the new TV riches are shared out. In the modern era that matters more than entertainment, especially when playing away.

As the home side, the onus to thrill was on a West Ham side now bereft of Dimitri Payet and stuttering after a bright start. Slaven Bilic tinkered with the team dismantled at Spurs last week, making three changes, only one enforced. Angelo Ogbonna, Zarate and Pedro Obiang came in for James Tomkins, Andy Carroll and the suspended Mark Noble. Pulis kept to the XI that beat Arsenal, aside from Gareth McAuley replacing the suspended Chris Brunt. Evans, despite a foot injury which has prevented him training, moved to left-back.

Bilic arranged his troops into a 4-3-3 formation, with Victor Moses and Zarate wide in an attempt to stretch an Albion back four that consisted of four centre-backs. In Payet’s absence Manuel Lanzini has had to assume the mantle of creator-in-chief and the Argentine soon fashioned a chance, picking his way around two defenders and drawing a third before slipping a pass to Zarate. But he lashed into the side netting.

West Brom's Rickie Lambert celebrates forcing the equaliser (Getty Images)

Then in the 17th minute McAuley was penalised for holding Diafra Sakho and Zarate bent a 25-yard free-kick into the top corner. “It was a soft free-kick, and a wonderful one,” said Pulis. “We lost focus and were fortunate to get in the dressing room only one-down.” Indeed. Cheikhou Kouyaté glanced a header wide from Aaron Cresswell’s cross, Lanzini was twice denied by Boaz Myhill, and Sakho had a shot blocked by Evans.

All Albion had offered was a Jose Salomon Rondon shot that fizzed wide, but at the break Pulis introduced Lambert and switched to 4-4-2. Within four minutes Fletcher burst into the box, Lambert took a swing, the ball hit Reid’s arm and went in with Adrian stranded.

“The way we played in the first half we should have been more than one-up but their goal affected us a lot and gave them a boost,” said Bilic. The Hammers, who have now taken two points from 12, wobbled and were indebted to Adrian. He had to save smartly from a Lambert free-kick, then brilliantly from Rondon.

Bilic brought on Carroll, and also went to 4-4-2. Matching Albion in midfield they regained ascendancy and Albion needed a block from Jonas Olsson to deny Sakho. That was the end of Sakho, who felt a thigh problem. “It does not look good, it would be a big blow,” said Bilic.

West Ham still created late chances but Moses volleyed wide and Myhill parried Cresswell’s free-kick, leaving Bilic to admit: “It was a fair result across the 90 minutes. You can’t say they were lucky.” Nor were the spectators.