Diafra Sakho's equaliser from a well-worked move has cancelled out Robbie Brady's opener as West Ham United and Norwich City go into half time of their Premier League match at Upton Park locked at 1-1.
Both sides secured positive results last weekend and both had chances to open the scoring within the first two minutes, first when Cameron Jerome headed a difficult chance straight at Adrian before Sebastian Bassong had to be alert to block Diafra Sakho's effort.
The returning Cheikhou Kouyate failed to capitalise on a good opportunity shortly afterwards when he headed Dimitri Payet's whipped free kick straight at John Ruddy from seven yards out as the hosts threatened again, but they gifted the lead to Alex Neil's side after nine minutes.
© Getty Images
Hammers captain Mark Noble was far too casual in rolling a pass across the defence and Robbie Brady capitalised by intercepting and keeping his cool to slide a low finish under Adrian for his first goal for the club.
Despite away wins at Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City, West Ham had one just one of three at home in the Premier League before this match, and their Upton Park woe looked like continuing as Norwich pressed for a second, Jonny Howson blazing over the bar from a good position.
Slaven Bilic's side looked far from stable defensively and Jerome should have doubled the lead when he could only fire into the side-netting with the Hammers' backline waiting for an offside flag.
© Getty Images
The Canaries were made to pay for their failure to find a second after 33 minutes when Sakho finished off a move that he started himself, slotting home his fifth goal of the season from close range after Payet had picked out the striker with a return pass.
The equaliser marked a change in the run of play as the hosts dominated the final stages of the first period, and they had chances to go ahead firstly through Manuel Lanzini's well-struck free kick and then when Sakho failed to capitalise on Ruddy's error.
Tom Nightingale
