As Hammers players left the pitch of the incredibly compact but aptly named 'Agg'borough Stadium, they made a point of congratulating their stoic opponents Kidderminster Harriers, who had become the Nation's favourites, as the plucky underdogs. They nearly pulled off the biggest FA Cup shock in living memory, but failed at the last hurdle, well last two hurdles actually.
With seconds remaining and the home side leading 1-0, the totally 'Claretaphobic' BBC commentary team put the commentators curse on KIddy by saying "they are 90 seconds away from an Epic victory" just as Declan Rice grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck and ran through the tiring defenders to crash the ball in to the top of the net, to draw Hammers level.
Skin of the teeth stuff, the fact that it took a last minute act of desperation to take the game into extra time is testament to (a) how good the home side were and (b) how woeful Hammers were for the entire first half and large amounts of the second!
It took another last minute act of brilliance, this time in extra time by Jarrod '180' Bowen, in order to ensure Hammers were in the hat for the next round's draw. It broke the opposition's hearts, but it should never had got so far in the first place, Kiddy ran Hammers ragged for much of the game, admittedly the pitch was ATROCIOUS but the players must have expected the conditions.
David Moyes had to use ALL his best players in order to get the job done, a job that may end up being at some considerable cost due to the injury Kurt Zouma sustained in the latter stages of the game, he was forced to play on because all the Subs had been used.
Andriy Yarmolenko proved that he is a total liability and we are convinced the ONLY reason Moyes plays the Ukraine International, is because he cannot stand the fact that Yarmo is stealing a living at the club! Must do better is an understatement, it was so nearly an unmitigated disaster! ED
Comments
Pitch Atrocious really?
Not having that Nev...so it was not a carpet of well manicured grass that the prissy prem players are used to but it was certainly not as bad as has been made out.
Players need to adapt to conditions in every match whether its weather related pitch related or crowd related they are professionals and have a job to do all today showed is we have a lot of players who clearly need more on the job training and a manager who got very VERY VERY lucky today.
Agree Mac
There are players out there that should never wear the shirt again,a minute to go & all I could think of was those spud fans gloating for ever....but of course Declan did the business! We have a history of embarrassing ourselves in the FA Cup to minnows but that would have topped the lot today.Time to move on yes but whoever we get in the next round will hardly be losing sleep!!
Nice added bonus.....
Most of our players let themselves down today, but there isn't too much to dwell on as we managed to pull it out of the flames in the end. It's called a bad day at the office and today it was our turn. It is what it is, and we move on. The Liverpool's, Citeh's and Chelski's of this world take the luck and move on... and so should we... end of!
The bonus was the way that our late win knocked the wind out of the BBC's sails, just as they were about to dance on our grave. I had almost forgotten how much I hated the BBC coverage of our games. They came to bury us and were like vultures waiting for a kill... Better luck next time Aunty.
Issa Diop, in my eyes, was his usual self and my eyes don't lie... he isn't and never will be good enough at this level and I am willing to put good money on it that should he leave, he will never reach these heady heights again.
Alex Kral... We've had a look before you buy, and we WON'T be buying as he simply isn't good enough.
Ryan Fredericks... Your time is up, not good enough, consistent enough & he's Injury prone.
Nikola Vlasic... Needs a pre-season under his belt before being able to display his known abilities for us...
I almost forgot Yarmo... We all know that he is NOT the player that you want in the trenches with you, but come the end of the season his presence with us will be no more.
Mission completed and we now await the next combatants!
Completely agree bout the bbc
Completely agree bout the bbc ,Dion Dublin was a sickener and as for Shearer ,nough said