Although understandably disappointed to concede a last-minute leveller, Tomáš Souček felt his West Ham United side can take plenty of positives from their 1-1 draw against Everton - taking particular pride from their second-half showing.
It looked for all the world that the midfielder’s second-half strike was going to secure another victory at Goodison Park, in the Hammers' final-ever match at the Merseyside stadium, having netted in victories away at the Toffees on two previous occasions.
Souček has a knack for popping up inside the box and he was at it again on Saturday afternoon. Latching onto Jarrod Bowen’s pass, the 30-year-old found the bottom-right corner with a pinpoint finish to beat a full-stretched Jordan Pickford.
The goal followed a dominant second half from Graham Potter’s side, who suffocated the Toffees with pressure after the restart. That said, they could have gone ahead in the first period had Pickford not been alert to parry away Jarrad Branthwaite’s header, that he sent crashing towards his own goal, before tipping Bowen’s volley from the edge of the box over the bar.
But Everton conjured up an equaliser in second-half stoppage time as Jake O’Brien diverted Idrissa Gueye’s cross into the roof of the net.
Goodison Park has been a happy hunting ground for Souček, who netted his third goal at the venue on Saturday before wheeling away to a jubilant away end, full of vocal West Ham supporters, and he was proud with the way his team dealt with the occasion.
“Maybe I will leave this stadium for another season so I can score another goal here,” he said.
“I have many, many memories here. I’ve scored two winning goals [here], and nearly the third one today. It was so close [to a win], but still it was a great goal.
“I think it was a good touch from Jarrod [Bowen], he passed me the ball, and I made the turn and a good finish.
“We were quite happy that we were winning until minute 90 and then we conceded in stoppage time. So, [no matter] how you play, conceding in stoppage time is always disappointing, we can feel it.
“I think in the second half, we improved a lot from the first and then it's one cross, and it's a draw.
“We dealt quite well with that [the pressure of playing at Goodison Park] because the pressure here is big, and they’re playing their last few games here. They’re many games unbeaten, so for every team to play here is so difficult. Because of that, it's even tougher not to win because we were so, so close.”
The Hammers are now without a Premier League game for little over two weeks due to the upcoming international break - with their next assignment coming on the road at Wolverhampton Wanderers on 1 April - and Souček acknowledged how far his team have come in their first ten games under Potter’s stewardship.
“We conceded many, many goals in the first half of the season and now we’ve conceded two in four games, so we can take the positives,” he said.
“We still have a new manager, we have a new project here and I believe that we can go step by step and take West Ham to the level that they deserve.”
