Craig Dawson and Issa Diop were superb in West Ham's draw against Leicester City with the central defenders vital in grabbing Hammers a point.
Diop provided a perfect pass over the Foxes defence to assist Jarrod Bowen's opener and it was Dawson who rose highest in injury-time to meet the attacker's corner and level things up.
Despite conceding twice Dawson and Diop barely put a foot wrong at the heart of the backline with the usually solid full-back pair Vladimir Coufal and Aaron Cresswell at fault for Leicester goals.
Diop's performance was all the more impressive considering he was only named in the starting team 25 minutes before kick-off. The Frenchman came into the team late on replacing his unwell compatriot Kurt Zouma, who was ruled out through illness, and Dawson was impressed with how his teammate coped with the situation.
"To come in so late, fair credit to Issa as he was very good," Dawson told WHUTV. "It was difficult for him to come in so late with little warning, so he was good.
"He was excellent. Fair play to him because he’s been working hard on the training pitch and he’s been excellent in training, so he’s got an opportunity and he did very well."
Dawson also revealed an area of his game that Diop has recently improved on: "Issa is very quiet but we’ve started to hear him on the pitch which is good. He was excellent, so well done to him."
The centre-back was not the only one to praise Diop for his display, with manager David Moyes added his voice to those commending the French defender.
"I think Issa is a really good player, his form has been a little bit up and down but I think there are some reasons for that. We like Issa, we really do. We think Issa has, I was going to say potential but we feel because he has been here that long we feel his potential should be out and he should be showing it and maturing with it," Moyes said.
"He has a lot of good attributes and I am pleased he did play well, he had a good game and I could not turn around and fault him too much on anything he did but as I said he was made well aware there was a good chance he may have to step in and he knew that himself from quite early on."
