Already-relegated Southampton are just one point from surpassing the lowest-ever Premier League points tally after snatching a stoppage-time equaliser to draw 1-1 at West Ham.
Lesley Ugochukwu’s superb 93rd-minute volleyed leveller moved Saints onto 11 points, equalling Derby’s record in the 2007/08 season, with the south coast club having five games left to beat it.
Jarrod Bowen’s 47th-minute goal had put Saints on course for a 27th league defeat of the season, but Southampton struck late to pick up just a second point from their last nine league games.
Boos greeted both the half-time and full-time whistles at the London Stadium as the home fans expressed their frustration at their side extending their winless run under Graham Potter to six games as they sit 16th in the table.
The Hammers failed to create much against the Championship-bound side, who had the better of the first half, as Kyle Walker-Peters dragged his 26th-minute shot wide and Kamaldeen Sulemana hit the bar five minutes later.
But just one minute and 43 seconds after the restart, West Ham took the lead through Bowen’s clinical curling finish on the counter-attack.
Southampton, however, pushed for an equaliser and were rewarded when on-loan Chelsea midfielder Ugochukwu fired in off the post in the third minute of added time for a rare moment of Saints joy in their dismal season.
Fullkrug hits out at West Ham team-mates
West Ham striker Niclas Fullkrug speaking to Sky Sports:
“It’s a mindset problem. Very angry today. Not disappointed, just angry about what we did after the goal.
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Niclas Fullkrug raged at his West Ham team-mates for failing to carry out head coach Graham Potter’s game plan after a stoppage-time Southampton goal saw them held to a 1-1 draw at home by the Premier League’s bottom side
“It was difficult to bring the boys back to push up. We didn’t push up anymore. We tried, but we didn’t have the ability or motivation to push up again.
“I’m very, very angry that we played like this. It’s not the first time that we scored a goal, and the next goal-kick we just shoot the ball long, we don’t try to play football anymore. We just sink.
“That’s not the way we want to play. Why can we play 65 minutes before with possession, even if it’s not perfect, trying to create chances and score, and then we do score, and after that half of the team try to score again, and the other half of the team just try to defend very deep.
“That’s not the way it works. We have to find a way to have togetherness, to have the idea of where we want to go and what we want to do.
“The coach is very clear about what he wants, but we have to do it all. Everyone has to do it.”
Potter: Boos were right | ‘We didn’t deserve win’
West Ham boss Graham Potter speaking at his post-match press conference on whether he understood the fans’ boos:
“For sure, absolutely. We weren’t happy at all with the first half and then you can completely understand the reaction of the second half and at the end because it’s really disappointing to concede late again and the manner we did because we’re too deep and we’re hanging on and it’s not a performance they want to see, so I completely understand.
“We have to accept that this isn’t good enough, this performance today and what we’re giving here isn’t good enough.
“It’s an indication of the supporters at the end, and they’re absolutely right to do that completely, so we have to accept that.
“I think that we can do some really, really good things here, really special, but at the moment we’re some way from that.”
On the draw: “We’re really disappointed with the performance and the result. I can’t say we deserved much more, which is a reflection on how disappointed we are.
“Credit to Southampton, but we didn’t do enough to win, and in the end we have to look at the reasons why. We have to be honest enough to say that and then look to improve, for sure.
“I don’t think we attacked well enough throughout the game, lots of giveaways, lots of cheap losses of possession. If you have to be the protagonist of the game, which I think West Ham at home to Southampton, we have to be that.
“We have to find a way to be the main player in the game, to control the game with attacking football – we’re some way off being able to do that.
“We looked better today when we were on the transition, and the goal comes from defending our box, and then we’ve got big spaces, and we attack.
“But when we have the ball, because opponents come back and they make it difficult in terms of getting bodies behind the ball, which is their right of course, we didn’t do enough to open up, we didn’t do enough to create, we didn’t do enough to score, to create pressure. So that’s what we have to do better.”
Dull West Ham frustrate their fans again
Sky Sports’ Peter Smith:
“The West Ham supporters were not impressed with the performance from their side against Southampton at all. Booed off at half-time, booed off at full-time.
“Their team were well off it in the first half, when Southampton had the best chances. Jarrod Bowen’s goal gave the Hammers a flying start to the second half and they were unfortunate not to add another.
“But Graham Potter opted to hold onto the 1-0, going to a back five and making defensive substitutions… and then they conceded anyway. Against a Southampton side set to post one of the lowest Premier League points totals ever.
“The West Ham supporters turned up on Saturday expecting to be entertained in the sunshine; wanting their side to cut loose against a Southampton team that have been so poor all season. They didn’t get that at all.
“The Hammers recorded an xG of just 0.8, which is the fourth lowest total against Southampton this season.
“West Ham stepped away from the David Moyes era last summer in a bid to deliver more exciting football but only four teams have scored fewer goals and their supporters seem as dissatisfied with the product on the pitch as ever before.”
Rusk not ‘obsessed’ with surpassing PL lowest points record
Lesley Ugochukwu celebrates after scoring a stoppage-time equaliser for Southampton at West Ham
Interim Southampton boss Simon Rusk speaking at his post-match press conference on moving closer to beating the lowest points record:
“I fully understand why people are going to focus on that and make that a really focal point. I think for me, it’s not useful to obsess about that.
“As head coach of this group of players and using my intuition and experience on how to get the best out of groups and individuals, I think that can be something that hangs quite heavy.
“So for me, it’s about installing belief in the players and confidence and saying if we get all these bits right, we think we can surpass that.
“But I think I’m not going to obsess about it because that wouldn’t be the diligent thing for me to do, the intelligent thing. So pleased that we’ve got a point and we took a step closer to it.
“Of course I’m not stupid. I’ve not totally got my head in the sand around that. But equally, today is about enjoying the performance, enjoying the commitment from the players, enjoying the moment that they got to have with the fans at the end of the game and trusting that we get them things right again, we’ll be in games.”
On the draw: “My feeling without watching the game back was that it was the least we deserved. I was disappointed not getting into half-time ahead. I thought the players showed mental stamina in the second half, didn’t allow it in any way, shape or form to feel sorry for ourselves. And we fully deserved our equaliser at the end.”