West Ham 1-0 Burnley: Hammers hold on behind Noble penalty

West Ham United returned to winning ways in the Premier League for the first time in almost two months, as they defeated Burnley 1-0, thanks to Mark Noble’s late first half penalty.

Manager Slaven Bilic demanded that his side needed to come with nothing less than three points on the night, and they did so thanks to their captain scoring, albeit in fortuitous fashion. Before he placed himself on the scoresheet, Noble and Pedro Obiang hit the woodwork, as Bilic’s side improved from an uneven, nervy start to a home match they needed to win.

The Hammers were rewarded for being the better side eventually in stoppage time before the break. Burnley defender Ben Mee fouled Winston Reid in the box after an Andy Carroll header was parried by Tom Heaton. Noble hit a poor penalty that was saved by Heaton, only for the goalkeeper to have his denial fall into the path of the onrushing Hammers leader for the easy tap in goal.

Burnley were formidable in the second half, coming close several times to equalizing. Both Sam Vokes and Scott Arfield would have given Burnley the goal they sought had it not been for fine stoppages and last ditch defending efforts from Darren Randolph, Aaron Cresswell and Angelo Ogbonna.

West Ham will hope this rise away from the bottom three continues, as they play another team they should get three points at home, against Hull City, on Saturday.