London: Hull duo Abel Hernandez and Mohammad Diame both scored their first goals for the club but they were only good enough for a 2-2 draw with West Ham in a Premier League clash at the KC Stadium on Monday.
Curtis Davies’s own goal ultimately ensured a share of the spoils after Hull twice lost the lead.
Hernandez’s first-half header put Hull ahead and Diame also scored — against a West Ham side he left on transfer deadline day.
In between, Ecuadorean international striker Enner Valencia marked his first league start with a 25-yard goal, and the 2-2 draw was sealed when Diafra Sakho’s weak shot evaded Allan McGregor, only for Davies to bundle over his own line.
Hull went ahead in the 39th minute, when Hernandez headed in Egyptian Ahmad Elmohamady’s cross.
But the Hammers were level five minutes after half-time when Valencia — who West Ham signed on the back of an impressive World Cup finals, where he scored three times — hit his long-range blockbuster.
But, with 64 minutes gone, a loose West Ham throw-in was seized on by Diame, whose shot went in off the post.
However, this time Hull’s lead lasted under three minutes. Sakho found space in behind the defence but, having collected Stewart Downing’s pass, his low shot was tamely struck. But McGregor missed it completely and Davies turned in Sakho’s shot.
West Ham almost won the match late on, when Valencia’s header came off Michael Dawson and hit the bar.
