Jarrod Bowen admits West Ham “shot ourselves in the foot” in Saturday’s implosion at Newcastle, but challenged his team-mates to immediately bounce back in Tuesday’s derby against Tottenham.
The Hammers led 3-1 with just 13 minutes to play in the Premier League at St James’s Park after goals from Michail Antonio, Mohammed Kudus and Bowen had replied to Alexander Isak’s early penalty.
However, substitute Kalvin Phillips conceded a second spot-kick, also dispatched by Isak, before Harvey Barnes struck twice off the bench to complete the turnaround.
“We’re all very disappointed, because we felt we were in control,” Bowen said. “But we’ve just got to stand tall and put it behind us, because we’re back at it in just a few days’ time.
“When you’re 3-1 up like we were, you just can’t end up losing 4-3. We shot ourselves in the foot and gave away that lead, which is hard to take, but we have to analyse what went wrong and learn from it ready for Tuesday.
“We’re all gutted at the moment, but tomorrow is a new day and we have to make sure we’re ready. There’s lots of football left to play this season and we need to pick up as many points as we can.”
Had the Hammers held on for victory, they would have found themselves just a point behind sixth-placed Manchester United after Erik ten Hag’s men suffered their own late shock in the form of Brentford’s 99th-minute leveller in west London on Saturday night.
Instead, Newcastle’s win sees them move within a point of the Hammers with a game in hand, while Brighton, Wolves and Chelsea are all also within striking distance in a European race that looks set to go to the wire. The Hammers are back in action on Tuesday night, when Spurs visit the London Stadium.
“We knew if they got a second goal it would give them a big boost, and that’s what happened,” added Bowen, speaking to the club website.
“At 3-2 we needed to manage the game and do the right things, but we weren’t able to do that and they went on and got the win. We can’t dwell on the frustration - we just need to make sure we get it right going forward, and that starts on Tuesday night.”
