West Ham 1-1 Wigan

Lee Bowyer rescued a 1-1 draw for West Ham with a rare goal in a late show started by Austrian Paul Scharner's acrobatic overhead strike 12 minutes from time, after battling Wigan had been given a pounding.

Scharner looked to have won it when he took off in the penalty area and hooked the ball over his shoulder past a startled Robert Green, but although he raced to the touchline to celebrate a possible third Wigan win in a row with manager Chris Hutchings, it was to be short-lived.

Substitute Bowyer, on for Hayden Mullins, finished crisply two minutes later when fed by fellow sub Luis Boa Morte and shamed Hammers' earlier efforts to score.

Hammers manager Alan Curbishley could see more home points slipping away when he brought on England hopeful Dean Ashton for Bobby Zamora for the last 30 minutes, but it was the Hammers' two other subs who turned up trumps.

West Ham have still never beaten Wigan in the Premier League at Upton Park, but if their finishing had been anywhere near accurate, they could have wrapped this one up in the opening half.

Zamora, still preferred to Ashton as a starter after the former Norwich star's recovery from a broken ankle last season, made two spectacular misses, skewering one shot across goal for a throw-in and then letting new boy Kieron Dyer's cross run under his foot with only Chris Kirkland to beat in the 21st minute.

Anton Ferdinand's header bounced just wide of a post when he jumped head and shoulders above everybody for Mark Noble's cross and Craig Bellamy was denied by a linesman's flag when he sped through onto Dyer's pass on 33 minutes.

And referee Andre Marriner did not spot a Wigan hand appearing to haul down Noble in the six-yard box during a scramble which followed a corner.

But it was full-back George McCartney who went closest of all for West Ham in the first half - twice. His stinging shots in the sixth and 37th minutes narrowly cleared Kirkland's crossbar, the second with the aid of a deflection.

Wigan took 25 minutes to create a chance, but it was a good one when Antoine Sibierski, who was substituted 13 minutes later, crossed from the left and Scharner escaped flimsy marking to put his header wide from about 10 yards.

Although Sibierski, with three goals already this season, Jason Koumas and even Scharner showed attacking intentions, Emile Heskey was often an isolated figure up front as West Ham began to dominate possession.

But Wigan suddenly came to life with a long run by Denny Landzaat and after Julius Aghahowa ran into a defender, the ball ran loose for Koumas, whose low shot grazed the foot of a post as it went behind.

Noble's follow-up shot from his own free-kick 10 minutes into the second half met a similar fate, but then so did Scharner's almost immediately at the other end, before Green pulled off a remarkable instinctive save from substitute Aghahowa, and then saw Mario Melchiot's header go wide.

Curbishley ran out of patience with the misfiring Zamora and sent on Ashton for the last 30 minutes, but it looked a move doomed to failure when the striker had two shots blocked.

Instead, Scharner struck spectacularly following Heskey's leap for a long throw by Melchiot, but it looked to be a West Ham head that helped the ball on for the Austrian's bicycle-kick act.

There was no doubting the identity of Bowyer's strike, however, as he showed West Ham's strikers the way to do it.

Source: Soccernet.com