ENGLISH FA PREMIERSHIP/Blackburn Rovers ... 2 West Ham ... 2: Vultures love a victim but Glenn Roeder has denied them their Christmas bonus. He is still West Ham's manager and now opening the window in his office of the past 18 months. Three players are expected to come in on loan to strengthen a small squad diminished further by injuries. But there will be no new manager.
West Ham scraped a point after twice falling foolishly behind. They were lucky to catch Blackburn in sluggish reaction to beating Manchester United and drawing at Liverpool. One was born of their own tiredness, the other of West Ham's determination.
Blackburn might have been encouraged to see two of their discarded centre-halves in West Ham's ranks, one of them, Ian Pearce, as a lone emergency striker. With Frederic Kanoute starting his season on St Stephen's Day only to be missing now, and Paolo Di Canio out until March, West Ham badly need strikers to go with the good fortune they deserved and got here. After three minutes the other discard, Christian Dailly, headed loosely out and David James let Damien Duff's shot squirm through. Such calamities keep David Seaman in England's goal.
Memories of last season's 7-1 defeat here might have loomed but West Ham kept chins up and equalised with a giant deflection off Martin Taylor.
At half-time Graeme Souness twigged he did not need four at the back to contain Pearce, reduced them to a shaky three and was relieved the defender betrayed his pedigree when Steve Lomas set him up for glory. Joe Cole's sharpest vision came to nothing but frustration with Pearce's unfamiliarity.
Andy Cole slipped in his 150th Premiership goal to round off a move that stemmed from James's over-ambitious throw. But Pearce was to have his moment, rising to a cross and heading down for the substitute Jermain Defoe to bully home.
BLACKBURN: Friedel, Curtis (Yorke 45), Taylor, Short (Todd 62), Johansson, Thompson, Flitcroft, Tugay, Duff (Gillespie 63), Ostenstad, Cole. Subs Not Used: Danns, Kelly. Booked: Thompson, Cole, Todd. Goals: Duff 4, Cole 78.
WEST HAM: James, Schemmel, Breen, Dailly, Winterburn (Minto 83), Lomas (Defoe 72), Carrick, Cisse (Moncur 77), Sinclair, Cole, Pearce. Subs Not Used: Repka, Bywater. Booked: Dailly, Cole. Goals: Taylor 24 og, Defoe 86.
Referee: A Wiley (Staffordshire).
