A win and three draws meant that buoyant Burnley came into their fifth game of the campaign unbeaten in tenth spot, but they will travel back to Turf Moor wondering just how they left Upton Upton empty-handed.
Although Alan Pardew's side started a point and three Championship places better off than their visitors, they soon found themselves on the back foot as the confident Clarets made a lively start.
Robbie Blake swerved a low 25-yard free-kick into the side-netting before the Burnley skipper then fired wide from 12 yards and Richard Chaplow sent an angled 18-yarder just past the far post.
As the interval approached, West Ham finally started to threaten. Danny Coyne bravely plucked the ball off Nigel Reo-Coker's studs six yards out, before Nowland let fly with a couple of long-rangers and Teddy Sheringham forced the Burnley keeper into a low save.
But with the first half finishing just as it had started, it was Burnley who came within inches of walking off in front, as Micah Hyde's acrobatic 18-yarder drifted inches over Stephen Bywater's right-hand angle.
In the 51st minute West Ham almost took a bizarre lead when the hitherto anonymous Marlon Harewood capitalised on hesitancy at the heart of the Burnley defence but the relieved Coyne's clearance ricocheted back off the Hammers striker and the ball looped to safety.
The Eastenders finally had something cheer on the hour-mark, when fit-again Steve Lomas stepped from the bench to make his first appearance of the season.
And the Northern Ireland midfielder's arrival had an immediate impact, for moments later Nowland strode on to a defensive clearance to claim his first Hammers goal with an 18-yard shot that thudded into the Upton Park turf and up and over the diving Coyne.
But in a frenzied finale that saw Harewood, Anton Ferdinand and Michael Duff all booked following a 20-man melee - and substitute Chris Cohen then red-carded for a robust tackle on Tony Grant - only Bywater's full-stretch save denied Mo Camara a stoppage-time equaliser.