Southampton snatch 1-1 draw at West Ham with injury-time equaliser

London: West Ham United were held to a 1-1 draw by Southampton in the Premier League on Saturday after Lesley Ugochukwu scored an equaliser in added time for the already-relegated south-coast club.

With Southampton staring down the barrel of a 27th defeat of the season, Chelsea loanee Ugochukwu came to their rescue with a volley in the 92nd minute to move the bottom side to 11 points. West Ham are 16th with 36 points.

Southampton now have five games left to avoid being labelled the joint-worst team in Premier League history, a record that belongs to the 2007/08 Derby County side which finished with 11 points.

West Ham could have taken the lead in the fourth minute when striker Niclas Fuellkrug connected with Lucas Paqueta's cross at the far post but Saints keeper Aaron Ramsdale made the save.

But Southampton showed more spark and had better chances in the first half, especially when Kyle Walker-Peters saw his shot go agonisingly wide while Kamaldeen Sulemana hit the bar at the half-hour mark.

After the first period ended goalless, the home fans turned on West Ham as the team walked off to loud boos at the London Stadium and that clearly had an effect as they came out firing and took the lead less than two minutes after the restart.

A counter-attack which began in West Ham's box saw the team gallop up the other end where Fuellkrug found Jarrod Bowen, who dribbled into the box and fired the ball inside the far post.

It was Bowen's 10th goal in all competitions as he hit double figures for a fourth straight season.

Fuellkrug thought he had made it 2-0 in the 67th minute from a corner when he scored from close range but the referee blew the whistle for a foul on Ramsdale.

Southampton, who looked the better side for much of the contest, refused to give up and Ugochukwu volleyed home in a chaotic finish to give the travelling fans reason to cheer in a dispiriting season.