PARKER'S FIRST NIGHT
HAMMERS RISE FROM THE DEAD
Cardiff 3, West Ham 3. Cardiff: Jack Moylan 11, 37 pen, 39; West Ham: Divine Mukasa 58, Arne Engels 65, Maximilian Kilman 82. Moylan's first-half hat-trick counts for nothing as West Ham haul back three goals in Cardiff
Scott Parker signed a two-and-a-half-year deal at West Ham on Wednesday morning. By half-time on Wednesday night his side were 3-0 down. By the final whistle he had a point and a story.
Jack Moylan was unstoppable in the first half. The former Lincoln City striker found a pocket of space on the edge of the area after 11 minutes and rifled the ball past Mads Hermansen into the top corner from 20 yards. He scored the second from the spot on 37 minutes after slowing down for Morato to bundle him over, then came in behind Will Fish to head in Joel Bagan's corner two minutes later. It was 3-0 at the break.
Parker sent on Mohamadou Kante and Joel Piroe at half-time. On 58 minutes Bowen floated a pass through and Divine Mukasa lifted it over Nathan Trott and in off a post. Seven minutes later Piroe flicked on another Bowen ball and Arne Engels slid home his first West Ham goal, and the comeback was on.
“We're naturally disappointed that we didn't manage to win the game. I think it was the proverbial game of two halves from our point of view. We showed in the first half what we're capable of, and the players delivered an incredible performance.” – Brian Barry-Murphy, Cardiff head coach, via BBC Sport
“The first-half performance was pretty poor. We had a really slow start. A lot of things didn't go well. We were very passive and slow with the ball. The biggest thing for me tonight is that there's a lot of learning that's taken place, particularly in terms of the team and the group. I came in here at nine o'clock this morning and met the players for the first time, so I didn't have a lot of input as such.” – Scott Parker, West Ham manager, via BBC Sport
With eight minutes left, Jarrod Bowen swung in a delicious curling cross with his left foot from the right. It swirled past the defence and drew the keeper off his line, and Max Kilman, of all people, popped up to cushion a striker's finish into the top corner from eight yards. The Cardiff players trudged back very quietly for the kick-off.
West Ham nearly threw it away again. Nathan Trott's huge clearance bounced through, Hermansen came racing out of his area and Yousef Salech got there first to nod past him, the keeper colliding heavily with Kilman as he tracked back. Cardiff could not find a winner.
“At half time we were 3-0 down, so everybody was pretty angry. Also, [Parker] was really angry. But everybody just reflected on themselves, looked in the mirror and we said to each other, we cannot lose this game anymore.” – Arne Engels, West Ham midfielder, via Hammers News
Parker has inherited the slow starts, but on his first night his side showed they could recover from one.
Where it leaves them: Cardiff 18th on 15 points; West Ham 8th on 23 points. The draw stretches Cardiff's unbeaten home league run to ten games; West Ham sit eighth, the final play-off place.