West Ham 1-0 Burnley
by Paul Donovan
at the Boleyn Ground

West Ham manager Sam Allardyce was clearly relieved on Saturday to have secured the three points from this keenly fought match against relegation-dogged Burnley.

The home side won the game, courtesy of a 22nd minute penalty, which was converted by Mark Noble but also saw Burnley reduced to 10 men.

Allardyce reflected that it was only the second penalty his team had had all season, the first coming in the opening fixture against Spurs, which Noble missed.

“We’ve had 27 attempts on goal and won 1-0,” said Allardyce, who was pleased that his team had kept a second clean sheet in a row.

The home manager was clearly concerned that West Ham would once again throw the points away, having conceded late goals in four recent games, effectively denying them seven points.

“Confidence is vital, we were a bit edgy in the first half but settled,” said Allardyce, who pointed out that the club now has 47 points, its highest tally since coming back into the Premier League in 2012.

The manager was pleased with the performance of 18-year-old centre back Reece Burke, who was playing his second game in a row after making his debut at QPR last week.

“He was terrific, he’s finding his way in the Premier League. The future is now in his hands, the harder he works, the further he will get,” said Allardyce.

The game itself sparked into life with the penalty decision, after Michael Duff had taken down Cheikhou Kouyate in the area after a swift interchange with Enner Valencia.

Both managers and most of the crowd were surprised that referee Jonathon Moss then sent off Duff.

Burnley had their chances but failed to put them away, with the out of sort Danny Ings spurning the best two opportunities.