PLAYING THE WEMBLEY WAY
West Ham have won six games in a row in all competitions for the first time since January / February 2006. Perhaps it’s worth putting those achievements alongside these before we say farewell to this run, against the backdrop of the coldest UK January since 2011.
2005-06
7th January Norwich City FAC3 (A) 2-1
14th January Aston Villa (A) 2-1
23rd January Fulham (H) 2-1
28th January Blackburn Rovers FAC4 (H) 4-2
1st February Arsenal (A) 3-2
4th February Sunderland (H) 2-0
13th February Birmingham City (H) 3-0
18th February Bolton Wanderers FAC5 (A) 0-0
Yes, it was Bolton Wanderers who finally put an end to this run on 18th February in a 0-0 tie which West Ham won the home replay of 2-1, the following month. You may not need reminding that this was the last season West Ham reached an FA Cup Final, in May 2006, against Liverpool. Bolton Wanderers were also West Ham’s opponents in the first ever Wembley FA Cup Final in 1923, though like 2006, West Ham were the vanquished on that occasion.
The seven match winning run in 2006 featured within it West Ham’s final game at Highbury, the last game that Arsenal lost there, on that evening 3-2. This was the strange affair where Sol Campbell ‘disappeared’ at half-time after being routinely humiliated throughout the whole of the first half by Bobby Zamora, Matthew Etherington and Nigel Reo-Coker. This was the game when Thierry Henri became Arsenal’s top scorer of all time, a bitter sweet achievement on the night. This was the game in which new signing Dean Ashton came on for a brief debut cameo. The week before this Highbury hiatus came the 2-1 home victory over Fulham, an emotional send off occasion for Tomas Repka, a Czech player often sent off (5 reds, and 55 yellow cards) in his time at the club. In addition the 2-1 victory featured exquisite goals from Yossi Benayoun and Anton Ferdinand, either of which was a slam dunk contender for Premier League goal of that season.
West Ham’s young 44 year old manager was Alan Pardew, whose young side were fresh up from promotion the previous season, and enjoying the novelty of being new boys on the block for the first time since 1993. The goal heroes of that seven game winning run were Bobby Zamora with four and Dean Ashton, Matthew Etherington and Marlon Harewood with two. The Hammers’ goal heroes this time round are Tomas Soucek with 3 and 2 from Michail Antonio and Craig Dawson (the latter will eventually score another in this afternoon’s game).
So, West Ham still have Czech players in their line up who have both won over the hearts and minds of Hammers fans now denied the chance to see them in the flesh. In 2006, with the signing of Dean Ashton in the headlights, West Ham were wise in requesting that he not appear for their third round opponents Norwich City. Good planning, as it turns out, as he would score West Ham’s second FA Cup final goal at the Millennium (now ‘Principality’) Stadium, Cardiff, later that year. Hammers have signed on loan a Manchester United player, Jesse Lingard, one of whose only two appearances for his footballing alma mater this season was, unfortunately, in a scrappy 1-0 third round FA cup victory against Watford. The 2021 cup run in play that has the fans optimistic for a potential Wembley appearance at the end of the season will be without the services of the cup-tied Lingard. It’s also certain that it won’t be a repeat of the 2006 occasion, as Liverpool have already been knocked out by West Ham’s Round Five opponents, Manchester United. So is the West Ham United name on the FA Cup for 2021, or is it on the bullet of this afternoon’s fixture against Liverpool?
The first half of the Liverpool game has both sides cancelling each other out in a cautious, edgy 45 minutes, but in the second, after Michail Antonio hammers marginally wide, Mohammad Salah hits a sweet left-footed shot past Fabianski to put Liverpool ahead. Moyes brings Yarmolenko on for Fornals, but it’s from a corner aimed at the Ukrainian that Liverpool break with Shaqiri hitting a forty yard pass into the path of Salah who controls it deftly with his right foot before nudging it past Fabianski with his left. The Hammerati may well moan their arses off tonight on Twitter, but that’s brilliant. Even the Devil’s choice between the sticks would not have kept that out. Wijnaldum finishes off a late move past tired West Ham legs to make it 3-0, but Dawson keeps the score respectable with a late neat goal from a corner.
So that was West Ham’s silver bullet from an improving Liverpool. The only question that remains worth posing, is the fate of that fifth round tie a week or so away. I’ve already mentally traded this afternoon’s defeat for a result at Old Trafford. We know that seasons containing great runs often end with a bang, and this July Alan Pardew will celebrate his 60th birthday. What will David Moyes be celebrating for his 58th in April – a semi-final victory?
Martin Godleman
