Given their inability to win a knockout tie in normal time, there can be little doubt of the physical impediment that West Ham’s prolonged FA Cup endeavours must make to their efforts of remaining in the Premier League.
But, with an eminently winnable home quarter-final against Leeds United now upcoming, the chance of a rare trip to Wembley is the type of happy distraction any relegation-threatened side can embrace. Momentum can provide a dangerous asset.
For the third time in as many FA Cup ties, the conventional 90 minutes were insufficient for Nuno Espírito Santo’s team to locate a winner, with two goals apiece for Jarrod Bowen and Igor Thiago cancelling each other out.
Unlike the previous two occasions, they could not even settle this one in extra time, requiring a penalty shootout to see off Brentford. Their cause was aided by a woeful Dango Ouattara spot-kick, when he followed an inordinate pause with an embarrassingly weak Panenka that looped gently into Alphonse Areola’s hands. By contrast, all five West Ham penalties were hammered firmly home, Konstantinos Mavropanos providing the winner for a 5-3 triumph.
“I’m not annoyed at all,” said Keith Andrews, when asked about Ouattara’s crucial miss. “I think the easiest thing for a footballer to do is not take a penalty. It takes unbelievable courage on a stage like that to take a penalty.
“I despise the culture around players that miss penalty kicks – national heroes that have done it. Ridiculed, persecuted. I think it’s disgusting.
“It takes serious courage to do that. You practise that technique a lot. It goes in, everyone is raving about him. Dango will get the absolute support he needs from myself and everybody attached to us.”
West Ham’s season had looked like collapsing until they grabbed a 98th-minute winner to beat QPR in the FA Cup third round in January. Nuno’s side have lost just two of their 10 games since.
“A long night, but a good one,” said Nuno, who suggested Adama Traoré, Ollie Scarles and Crysencio Summerville would all need to be assessed for potential physical problems this week. “The atmosphere in the end was amazing. The fans deserve this moment of happiness. It’s been hard but they have stuck with us, supporting us and I think the boys are giving back.”
It was a triumph that had perhaps appeared unlikely when Andrews fielded close to the strongest team at his disposal, while most of West Ham’s heavy artillery began the evening in the London Stadium dugout.
Crucially, they had their biggest weapon on the pitch from the outset though. If West Ham do find themselves in the second tier next season – and their form in recent months suggests such a prospect is increasingly unlikely – it is difficult to envisage Bowen remaining with them. Little of his abundant majesty was required in his first-half double, just a simple knack of ensuring he was in the right place at the right time, and then following up from the penalty spot.
His first goal came after a recycled corner was delivered back into the box by Mateus Fernandes and nodded across goal, where Bowen had peeled off his marker to prod home from a couple of yards. The opportunity to score a second only arose after the referee, Andrew Madley, had been sent to the pitchside monitor to inspect a Michael Kayode challenge that had sent Traoré tumbling inside the Brentford penalty area. Little examination was required, given the clarity of the trip. Up stepped Bowen, who sent Caoimhín Kelleher the wrong way.
Between times, Brentford had found a deserved, but briefly held, equaliser. Nathan Collins’ header deflected off Igor Thiago’s midriff and past a hopelessly stricken Areola.
Having been introduced at half-time, Summerville’s twinkle toes provided much of West Ham’s subsequent attacking threat, but he proved the villain when shoving Kayode just as the Brentford defender looked likely to get on the end of a dangerous cross. Madley awarded his second penalty of the night and Igor Thiago lashed it past Kelleher to restore parity.
West Ham came closest to finding an extra-time winner. Callum Wilson saw a shot excellently saved, while a Taty Castellanos effort was deflected just over the crossbar. But penalties were needed.
Fittingly, Bowen and Igor Thiago led the way when finding the net for the third time apiece. But when Ouattara paid the price for his cheekiness, West Ham seized the opportunity, Castellanos, Wilson and Tomas Soucek all scoring before Mavropanos lashed home the winner.