West Brom are still yet to win under Alan Pardew after being denied by striker Carroll, who ended his long drought by cancelling out James McClean’s first-half opener.

Both of these struggling teams changed their managers in November but still started the new year in the bottom three.

The Baggies, fuming this game was even taking place due to the fixture congestion, will at least be glad to see the back of 2017. Just seven league wins all year and it was more than four months since the last one arrived.

West Ham will have their own gripe at the calendar. Their last game was on Boxing Day but they now face two matches in the space of 48 hours.

David Moyes is likely to select a different team to fact Tottenham at Wembley and he will certainty need his side to defend better than they did in the 14th minute here.

Salomon Rondon turned Angela Ogbonna all too easily and Winston Reid’s hesitation gifted the Venezuelan a route to goal, only for his chip over a stranded Adrian land on the top off the net.

West Ham had barely laid a finger on West Brom before finally calling Ben Foster into action in the 22nd minute after Manuel Lanzini’s powerful shot was beaten away.

West Brom looked the more likely of two poor sides and it was no surprise to see McClean open the scoring on the half hour mark.

There looked no danger when the Republic of Ireland winger initially collected the ball on the left hand side. But he cruised past Reid and manoeuvred himself into a shooting position where his 25-and shot deflected off Ogbonna’s foot before looping over Adrian.

Whether McClean will be credited with the goal remains to be seen but West Brom would not have cared a jot as the boos already began from the home supporters.

That would have quickly turned to jeers had Lanzini not been foiled by Foster, with the Argentinian showing great footwork to carve out the chance all on his own.

Carroll should have hauled West Ham level within 60 seconds off the restart. Mario Arnautovic’s cross was met by Carroll, who could only slice over from close-range.

That was a temporary reprieve as Carroll ended his long wait for a goal by heading the home side level. Aaron Cresswell’s cross saw Carroll tower above two defenders to head beyond Foster in the 59th minute.

Mark Noble’s half-time introduction had certainly injected more life into the West Ham midfield as Albion dropped deeper and deeper. He was at the heart of another move which ended with Arnautovic being denied by Foster’s legs as the Austrian bore down on goal in the 68th minute.

As Albion dropped deeper and deeper, Arnautovic was denied by Foster’s legs but the Austrian had the last word as he set up the stoppage-time winner for Carroll.