Allardyce admits Taylor miss was key as Bale-inspired Spurs sting Hammers

West Ham United's Matthew Taylor rues a missed chance. Photo: Daniel Hambury/PA

Tuesday, February 26, 2013
8:21 AM

West Ham manager Sam Allardyce was left to rue a Matthew Taylor miss which he felt would have put last night’s London derby beyond Tottenham and meant that Gareth Bale’s stunning late winner would have been nothing but a consolation.

Spurs’ Welsh superstar opened the scoring but Andy Carroll levelled for the Hammers from the spot after former player Scott Parker brought the Liverpool loanee down.

Joe Cole put the Upton Park side in front before the hour mark and then Taylor, who replaced injured skipper Kevin Nolan, was played through on goal with a chance to make it 3-1.

His effort was well saved by a charging Hugo Lloris in the Spurs goal and Allardyce was left ruing the miss as Gylfi Sigurdsson levelled and Bale completed the comeback in the 90th minute.

The Hammers boss said: “The key moments for me are when you’re moving into final quarter of the game.

“One on one, it was the best chance of game for both sides, the best chance that you can get and you miss it, that was a telling moment, I don’t think Tottenham are coming back from 3-1.

“If you’re going to beat Tottenham like we beat Chelsea you have got to put those in back of net. We put them in back of net against Chelsea to win 3-1.

“This time Tottenham came back from that [with] the second goal and then the ‘worldy’ at the end that killed us off.”