With pouring rain by the fifth minute, neither side produced anything spectacular as Swansea and West Ham played to a 0-0 draw at Liberty Stadium Saturday.
It could have been more for Swansea, however, had referee Phil Dowd not missed an obvious penalty in stoppage time.
West Ham’s strike partnership of Ravel Morrison and Ricardo Vaz Te looked sharp early, with Morrison slicing an early chance just wide on a break in the 15th minute.
The break came just after Chico Flores tested Jussi Jaaskelainen with a dangerous header off a corner directly at the keeper. Anywhere else and he may have opened the scoring.
Morrison continued to test Vorm, with a pair of efforts off a pair of corners as the first half progressed.
As the half went on, Vaz Te dropped deeper and left Morrison by himself up top, nullifying anything Swansea had in their five-man midfield. West Ham gained an advantage here, but nether side had any other serious efforts on goal before the halftime whistle.
Unfortunately for West Ham, Vaz Te was forced off injured at halftime, with Matt Jarvis on to replace him.
Swansea slowly gained their legs in the second half, and by the 65th minute they were well on top. A corner in the 70th minute proved very dangerous for West Ham to deal with, and only a spectacular Jaaskelainen save kept out substitute Wilfried Bony’s powerful shot out from close range.
While West Ham may have lost their first-half edge, they defended well, and kept Swansea from any serious threats going forward.
The chances diminshed as the game because a midfield battle, but will feel harshly judged after the failure by referee Phil Dowd to give a clear handball penalty in stoppage time.
Unlike Ahmed Elmahamoudy’s handball against Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday, Joe Cole’s hand was clearly outstretched from his arm and served to, while not necessarily intentional, make himself bigger and therefore stop the cross by Nathan Dyer.
Cole, making his 350th Premier League appearance, is slightly lucky to have gotten away with no punishment.
The point for Swansea, despite the relative disappointment with being held at home, does push them into the top half of the table. West Ham, meanwhile, jump to 15th position with nine points.
LINEUPS:
Swansea City – Vorm; Rangel, Chico, Williams, Taylor; Britton, De Guzman, Michu, Dyer, Routlidge (Pablo, 61'); Vazquez (Bony, 66').
West Ham United – Jaaskelainen; Reid, Tomkins, Rat, Demel; Nolan, Noble, Downing, Diame (C. Cole, 64'); Vaz Te (Jarvis, 45'), Morrison (J. Cole, 78').