West Ham needed a win to extend their lead at the top of Group H but were denied by a late own goal
By Kehinde Okeowo
West Ham United were denied an opportunity to extend their lead at the top of Group H by an own goal from Tomas Soucek in a game played at Luminus Arena in Belgium.
The home side, which paraded Nigeria’s Paul Onuachu drew the first blood when Joseph Paintsil scored in the 5th minute from a pass from Junya Ito to make it 1-0 to Genks.
Said Benrahma equalized for the away in the 59th minute after Vladimir Coufal found him with a superb pass.
West Ham took the lead for the first in the game when Said Benrahma found the net for the second time in the 82nd minute to give West Ham a 2-1 lead.
The away side thought they had won the match until Tomas Soucek scored an own goal in the 88th minute to level the game 2-2 for Genks.
The draw takes the away side to 10 points after 4 games, followed by Dinamo Zagreb who have 6 points, Genks and Rapid Wien have 4 and 3 points respectively.
West Ham will qualify for the next round if they win the next game against Rapid Wien on November 25th, no matter the outcome of the game between Dinamo Zagreb and Genk.