Honours even in Wolves-West Ham basement battle

The battle of the Premier League basement finished 1-1 here on Saturday after a Mark Noble penalty handed West Ham a share of the points to frustrate Wolves at Molineux.

A blunder from West Ham keeper Robert Green had allowed Wolves to get off to a strong start after only 10 minutes, the England international miscuing a punched clearance only as far as Matthew Jarvis.

Jarvis made no mistake to rifle home his volley from eight yards to leave Wolves dreaming of three points that would have lifted them out of the relegation zone.

However, Mick McCarthy’s men were unable to add to their tally and soon after the restart the Hammers hauled themselves back into contention from the penalty spot after Kevin Foley clattered into Victor Obinna.

Referee Mark Clattenburg had no hesitation in pointing to the spot and Hammers talisman Noble duly stepped up to thunder in a spot-kick with Marcus Hahnemann well beaten.

West Ham forward Frederic Piquionne thought he had given the visitors a dramatic late winner when he bundled the ball into the net, only for Clattenburg to disallow the effort for handball and show the striker a yellow card.