Woodwork woe and a Spurs lifeline - West Ham suffer in survival fight

Breaking news from the world of sport: Woodwork woe and a Spurs lifeline - West Ham suffer in survival fight To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. This video can not be played Figure caption, West Ham's survival hopes take a blow after defeat to Brentford By Matthew Howarth Sport journalist Published 2 May 2026, 20:24 BST Updated 19 minutes ago When Tomas Soucek's effort grazed a post in the final stages of West Ham 's defeat at Brentford on Saturday, their supporters could have been forgiven for exchanging exasperated looks. The 3-0 scoreline at Gtech Community Stadium may point to a comfortable victory for Keith Andrews' Europe-chasing side, but it tells only half the story.

West Ham struck the woodwork four times - a joint record in the Premier League this season - with Valentin Castellanos hitting a post either side of Konstantinos Mavropanos' first-half own goal, before Crysencio Summerville slammed a powerful drive against the crossbar with the score at 3-0. Soucek was first to the rebound but guided his effort against the outside of a post. Victory would have lifted West Ham five points clear of the bottom three, but instead they have left the door ajar for Tottenham to leapfrog them with victory at Aston Villa on Sunday.

Match Details

The Hammers remain two points above Spurs, who have a game in hand and are nine goals healthier in terms of goal difference. "We had chances, hit the post twice, hit the bar and post again," West Ham captain Jarrod Bowen told Sky Sports. "It's really disappointing.

"We had good opportunities. On another day we would have got the win. We've done a lot of good things.

" Manager Nuno Espirito Santo told Match of the Day: "It's up to us how we will react from this situation. "Let's stick together. We have three games to go.

Reactions and Expectations

It will go down to the wire. " West Ham are three points below in-form Nottingham Forest , after Leeds United moved nine points clear of Spurs with a win against Burnley on Friday. A three-team battle for survival?

It is beginning to look that way. What information do we collect from this quiz? 'We can't dwell on this' By the time Summerville and Soucek were denied by the frame of the goal, Brentford had added to their advantage thanks to Igor Thiago's second-half penalty and a composed finish from Mikkel Damsgaard.

At half-time, however, West Ham will have fancied their chances of forging a route back into the match. Mavropanos thought he had made amends for his 15th-minute own goal when he headed home El-Hadji Malick Diouf's free-kick midway through the first half, but he was ruled to be just offside. The unfortunate Castellanos forced a fine save out of Caoimhin Kelleher late in the first half when his stinging effort from the edge of the area was tipped over the bar.

The story has climbed to the top of the sports agenda, with fans and analysts following closely.