West Ham boss Manuel Pellegrini said he was “absolutely frustrated” despite Marko Arnautovic scoring twice in two minutes to salvage a point against Brighton on Wednesday.
The Seagulls took a 2-0 lead, also within the space of two minutes, with their eighth and ninth goals from corners this season.
“The most important way that Brighton scores is from set-pieces, and we allowed them to score two goals this way,” said Pellegrini, whose side ended a run of the three consecutive defeats against their opponents.
“I don’t remember any other chances for them, but we didn’t create in the first 45 minutes.”
Arnautovic, who has been linked with Chelsea, proved his value again for the Hammers by turning around a game which came to life after a drab first half where Andy Carroll made his first start in exactly a year.
After Carroll was hooked at half-time, Dale Stephens rifled the visitors ahead from the edge of the box with his first Premier League goal.
Shortly afterwards, the Seagulls doubled their advantage when Shane Duffy peeled to the back post and controlled the ball on his chest before cleverly poking home.
But two Pellegrini substitutions unleashed their star striker as Mark Noble chipped a lovely ball forward which the Austrian striker hammered home from close range.
Then Michail Antonio cut the ball back from as close to the byline as he could get for the 29-year-old to score his seventh goal of the season.
There were further chances for Antonio and Declan Rice to win it, but the point moved West Ham into the top half of the table.
