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Liverpool striker Divock Origi and West Ham goalkeeper Darren Randolph
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Bilic backs Randolph after Liverpool blunder

The West Ham and Ireland goalkeeper made an error in Sunday’s 2-2 draw at Liverpool, but his manager shrugged it off.

SLAVEN BILIC REITERATED his faith in West Ham goalkeeper Darren Randolph, despite a costly error in their 2-2 Premier League draw at Liverpool on Sunday.

Randolph was culpable for Divock Origi’s equaliser early in the second half, as he mishandled a Sadio Mane cross and left the Belgian with a simple finish.

But Randolph produced a brilliant save towards the end to tip Jordan Henderson’s long-range effort over the crossbar and go some way to atoning for his previous error.

Randolph was aware of his mistake, though.

He told Sky Sports: “The lads worked hard and we managed to get ourselves ahead in the game, but I’m upset with the equaliser. It’s one of those things, it happens. I move on.”

Bilic was understanding, however, insisting he was generally impressed with the 29-year-old.

It’s the nature of his job (mistakes being punished),” Bilic said. “Apart from the mistake he was solid and made some great saves. I am happy with him.”

Adam Lallana opened the scoring with his first top-flight strike since September before Dimitri Payet equalised for West Ham with a trademark free-kick and Michail Antonio edged the visitors in front.

Bilic said: “The players deserve a lot of credit. We conceded an early goal but after that we showed a great reaction and were good on the ball.

“In the first half, I am really happy with how we reacted [to falling behind]. In the second half of course Liverpool came forward and we showed compactness and resilience.

When you lose 5-1 (at home to Arsenal) and then go behind at Anfield, your confidence can drop even more.

“But we showed character, and we got a really good point.”

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