WEST HAM fans will learn one day that it is a silly idea to leave early.
The Hammers staged another late comeback to win through veteran striker Callum Wilson and rescue their Premier League survival hopes.
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Tomas Soucek jumped up to head home Jarrod Bowen’s corner just after half time Credit: Getty
The London Stadium erupted after the crucial opening goal Credit: Getty
Things were looking pretty bleak until two minutes into added time at the end of the second half after Everton levelled and relegation rivals Tottenham scored up the road at Wolves.
From sitting pretty and inching closer to safety, suddenly the trapdoor was opening and West Ham were slipping back into the bottom three.
When Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall equalised for Everton on 88 minutes, thousands of daft supporters turned for the exits and headed for Stratford station.
It was just the same when West Ham went 2-0 down to Leeds in the FA Cup just a couple of weeks ago only for the team to pull it back from the brink and go to penalties.
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Nuno Espirito’s side lost eventually but here they clung on to win and keep a two point gap on third from bottom Spurs with games running out fast.
Tomas Soucek had given the home side the lead 50 minutes into a drab match where nerves were clearly getting to them.
The Czech midfielder climbed between James Tarkowski and Iliman Ndiaye at a corner to score from a yard out.
He later produced another death-defying header to divert Ndiaye’s goalbound effort onto the crossbar in a huge let off.
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Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall thought he had dented West Ham’s survival hopes late on Credit: Reuters
Callum Wilson sent the London Stadium berserk with a dramatic stoppage time winner Credit: Getty
West Ham also rode their luck when Mateus Fernandes was let off for what looked like a clear penalty when he patted the ball while tussling with the Everton striker in his own box.
VAR Michael Salisbury can only have concluded the Hammers man could not see the ball at the time but it was a bizarre decision nonetheless.
Axel Disasi also hooked a shot off the line and West Ham’s luck ran out when Dewsbury-Hall barrelled home a shot from just inside the box on 88 minutes.
Spurs had taken the lead at Wolves six minutes earlier and an entire club’s medium term future was swinging wildly downward with time ticking away.
But deep into injury time left back El Hadji Diouf swung a cross to the far post where skipper Jarrod Bowen headed back across goal with Wilson unmarked to roll the ball home.
