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In came Tony Grant, Graham Branch and Luke Chadwick but the biggest surprises were on the bench where 3rd year scholar Paul Scott appeared for the first time since August, he has been out with a broken foot, alongside 2nd year scholar Ryan Townsend and 1st year Marc Pugh.
There is no doubt that central defender Ryan, the Australian with the Manchester accent, and winger Marc Pugh from Bacup have fully deserved their call ups after some impressive performances for the youth team this season.
I always suspected that this might be a tough game and the way it started did little to change my mind as West Ham immediately got on top. They could have been in the lead very early in the game when Mo Camara gave the ball away but Brian Jensen saved well from David Connolly.
Their movement up front was something else but we were defending well and as if our lives depended on it. Matthew Etherington put Connolly through again and this time he really should have given the Beast no chance at all. But he got a hand to it and David May was on hand to clear off the line.
It wasn’t one way traffic though and we had tested Stephen Bywater in the West Ham goal a couple of times and on the half hour we more than tested him when Graham Branch gave him no chance as he hammered the Clarets into the lead.
Chadders started it down the right and found Robbie Blake who played the skipper in on the left hand side with a superb ball inside the defender. Branchy, disgustingly booed by some in the crowd before kick off, made no mistake as he hit it first time.
The last time he scored Anthony Shandran was making his debut and Dean Ashton was scoring his first goal for Crewe in a game of four penalties at Crewe that ended in a 4-2 defeat.
And it was another penalty that brought West Ham level, an apparent shirt pulling incident that the referee gave after the assistant flagged. Connolly made no mistake from the spot, sending Jensen the wrong way, with only the third goal we have conceded from a penalty all season.
You sensed that we probably needed to have kept in front a little longer and that West Ham would not really get on top but we dug in and did well enough up to the interval to go in level with one real chance at either end.
Ours came when Tomas Repka cleared badly (no wonder they sacked Roeder with signings like this) but he was rescued by his keeper and then Lee Roche got back brilliantly to rob Nigel Reo-Coker, now enjoying playing football for a real club.
The half time chat centred on the performance of the visitors and the view in our area was that they were the best side to have played at the Turf all season. We still felt that getting anything from the game could be difficult.
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Prompted by the magnificent Tony Grant in midfield, and he even got a shot on target, we started to push the Hammers back for the first time and could have even got ourselves back in front.
There were a couple of shouts for penalties but neither looked likely and Alan Pardew started to make use of his substitutes to try and change things round.
But we held firm and never really allowed them a clear chance, in fact we came close to winning it in stoppage time when Blake latched on to a clearance but hit his shot just wide.
A draw in the end was a good result for us, this was without doubt one of our most difficult games all season against a very good West Ham side. We needed to play well to get anything out of it and we did play well.
Brian Jensen made some good saves and won the sponsors man of the match award. I really couldn’t agree with that decision, for me the top man tonight just had to be Tony Grant who I think turned in his best performance yet in a Claret & Blue shirt.
He shone in the midfield area where West Ham’s Michael Carrick was outstanding.
As a football fan I am allowed to be up one minute and down the next and my faith has been restored tonight. I was at a low on Saturday after a poor performance alongside the other goings on at Millwall but happy tonight to have collected that point and seen a proper game of football between two sides trying to play the game properly in a good atmosphere.
I still have the view that West Ham are the best side to have come to the Turf all season and it is good to see teams such as this back at the Turf, an incredible 24 years since they last played a league game here. And last time we beat them tonight’s special guest Jim Thomson scored the winner.
If, and it is an if, we can continue to play like that then we will have no problem in staying up.
The teams were,
Burnley: Brian Jensen, Lee Roche (Dean West 55), Mark McGregor, David May, Mo Camara, Luke Chadwick (Alan Moore 87), Glen Little, Tony Grant, Graham Branch, Robbie Blake, Ian Moore. Subs not used: Paul Scott, Ryan Townsend, Marc Pugh.
West Ham: Stephen Bywater, Hayden Mullins, Tomas Repka, Christian Dailly, Jon Harley, Marlon Harewood (Jobi McAnuff 75), Nigel Reo-Coker, Michael Carrick, Matthew Etherington (Adam Nowland 90), Bobby Zamora, David Connolly (Brian Deane 81). Subs not used: Pavel Srnicek, Andy Melville.
Referee: Phil Dowd (Stoke-on-Trent).