This had appeared sure to be a serene afternoon for West Ham but it ended up taking a heavy toll. The inconvenience of a replay, hugely deserved by a Bristol City side that grew in bravery and confidence, is one thing but David Moyes’s side ended the match bruised and battered. The sight of Jarrod Bowen being helped across the pitch at full-time after receiving treatment for an ankle problem would have sent chills through their supporters and it was far from the first discomfort to befall them.
Moyes had picked his strongest available team to face the Robins, who are 11th in the Championship, and seemed to have been vindicated when Bowen scored in the fourth minute. They seemed ready to turn the screw but nothing went right from there. By half-time Lucas Paquetá and Konstantinos Mavropanos had been forced off with injuries and the Brazilian’s loss, in particular, laid bare a lack of quality in reserve that was ultimately exploited.
“A big turning point in the game generally,” Moyes said of Paquetá’s departure. The valid question was whether he should have played at all after missing Tuesday’s draw against Brighton with a knee complaint. It was the same issue that led him to pull up soon after he had set up Bowen’s opener but Moyes rejected any idea that selecting him had been a gamble.
“I don’t see it like that,” he said. “He trained yesterday, we were all of the understanding things were fine. But obviously something must be annoying him.” In fairness, Moyes could hardly win. The heavy temptation at kick-off had been to praise him for giving City and the FA Cup the respect they merited. With Mavropanos leaving the scene after what appeared to be a heavy fall, and with uncertainty over Bowen’s state bound to rumble on at least in the short term, it remains to be seen whether he can show similar intent at Ashton Gate.
That conundrum seemed far off when Bowen, played onside by Cameron Pring and controlling Paquetá’s lofted pass beautifully, slotted beyond Max O’Leary. He did so in front of almost 9,000 visiting fans who must, at that point, have felt like settling for a consequence-free day out. If Pablo Fornals had scored soon after Paquetá limped away, rather than allowing the keeper to make what was nonetheless a decent stop, the contest would almost certainly have been wrapped up.
“Pablo should probably score,” Moyes said. O’Leary also saved from James Ward-Prowse and prevented a Pring own goal in a first half that, despite West Ham’s broad level of control, drifted sufficiently to allow City the sense that reward lay within reach.
Liam Manning, who oversaw West Ham’s under-23s for four years before the turn of the decade and became City’s head coach in November, has a reputation for promoting a bold approach. At half-time he reminded his players to adopt it. “You have to have that healthy level of arrogance and back yourselves and that was the key message really, to have that conviction,” he said.
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They certainly showed it, dominating for significant spells after the interval and missing a good chance when Pring met Jason Knight’s teasing cross but blasted wide. That might have been the Sliding Doors moment that often befalls underdogs in similar circumstances but City came again. An aimless ball into midfield by Emerson Palmieri summed up West Ham’s second-half application, resulting in a sharp combination between Knight and Joe Williams. The latter’s clever half-volleyed pass was taken on by the striker Tommy Conway, who arrowed an impressive low finish beyond Lukasz Fabianski.
“A terrific moment of quality,” Manning said. “Going a goal behind can derail all the work you’ve done but I thought the response was outstanding.” They could not quite fashion a similar opening in a final half-hour that swung from end to end, but this was the kind of display to energise a league campaign in which they sit four points off the playoffs.
Moyes rolled the dice with a triple change and should have come up with a six when, after O’Leary had blocked from Divin Mubama, the ball dropped to Danny Ings. But the striker, linked with a move away this month, shot into the side netting and West Ham were left to face the worst of all worlds.
A trip to Bristol midway through what passes for a winter break had not been on Moyes’ agenda. “The amount of games we’ve played this season, it would probably be better if we didn’t have it,” he said. “I don’t think there’s a great clamour for replays at this stage of the FA Cup, I don’t think it’s something that’s hugely appreciated.” He had got more than he bargained for in trying to avoid one.
