With that, I pass you to Michael Butler for Nottingham Forest v Arsenal, which will surely be better than what we’ve just seen. Enjoy that, and thanks for your company here!
Full-time: Shrewsbury 0-0 West Ham
A late Shrewsbury break causes a scramble on then edge of West Ham’s box but that’s it now, we are done. That was, if you strip the context away, a godforsaken affair. A patched-up West Ham got better as it went on but Shrewsbury should have won it if anyone should, Sadler drawing a first-half save from Hart and Nolan blasting a good chance over near the end. The Hammers created nothing, zero, nada, niente, no chances whatsoever. They get an extra game for their troubles but, on the bright side, seem to have averted the biggest threat of an upset. Shrewsbury can be proud of a bright effort and might as well have another good go in the replay.
90+2 min: I don’t get the impression there will be a goal.
90 min: Four minutes of added time will be played. This game doesn’t deserve a goal, unless perhaps Shrewsbury can sneak one.
88 min: Whalley goes off now and on comes Arthur Gnahoua.
87 min: Big chance for Nolan! The free-kick is delivered, Nsiala heads across goal and Payne slides in heroically at the far post to stop it going out of play. It’s cut back to Nolan, 10 yards out, who blasts over with the headlines in sight!
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85 min: Reid seemed to twist his knee while making a clearance. He’s going to come off and the midfielder Domingos Quina will replace him, presumably with Kouyate dropping back as a result. Moyes will be worried by this.
84 min: Obiang cynically fouls the breaking Nolan midway inside the West Ham half. Should be booked; I’m not sure he was. We’ll have another delay now in this fractured and, I’ll say it now, turgid game because Reid is down.
82 min: Another Shrews change. Morris goes off, top scorer Payne enters the fray. Can he conjure something up off the bench ...? This game has been dying a death.
82 min: Cullen is back with us. His tooth has, apparently, been placed in a cup of milk.
80 min: Obiang has half a sight on the left edge of the area after some nice footwork, but drags harmlessly wide.
78 min: While Cullen is off, Obiang delivers the free-kick. It’s enough to say West Ham will wish he hadn’t.
77 min: And ... oooof ... it looks as if Cullen has lost a tooth there. Replays show it shooting out of his mouth as he was challenged, to be collected from the turf by West Ham’s physio later. Not nice.
76 min: Cullen wins a free-kick about 35 yards out, but receives a cut in the process and will need treatment for the game’s latest blood injury. Meantime, Derby loanee Max Lowe comes on to replace Rodman for the hosts –making his debut for them.
73 min: Ogogo and Rodman combine in the box but the latter can’t quite make space for the shot. The former then tries to return the ball with interest but crosses straight into Hart’s arms. A bit more life from the Shrews there after a quiet 15 minutes or so.
72 min: A West Ham change. Hernandez, who has had absolutely no impact, is replaced by young striker Antonio Martinez.
71 min: I’m not going to say I’ve been unlucky with my football games this weekend but I was at Norwich v Chelsea yesterday.
68 min: Now West Ham get some decent “ball” in the Shrews’ half, led by Masuaku and Cullen. That’s what they need to do. Start moving the ball around, make the opponent work.
66 min: Cullen has moved into the middle, I think. That makes sense, he’s a nice little footballer and might get them playing a bit more.
64 min: If West Ham have improved in this half, and I think they have, it’s been very minimal. Still no sign of a goal from either side, if we’re honest.
61 min: Masuaku shows some much needed drive and wins a corner from Godfrey down on the byline. It’s very well headed out. Cullen’s ball in was again menacing.
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60 min: Beckles somehow works an angle and clips a beautiful ball on the left; Rice, at full stretch, has to glance behind before an attacker can convert. The hosts have a corner on the right but there’s a push somewhere and a free-kick is given to the Hammers.
57 min: Sadler is back on, wrapped up in bandages and all sorts. He’ll be an unmistakable figure now. West Ham failed to make use of their power play.
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55 min: It’s Shrewsbury who make a chance though – Nolan is ready to lash one at goal from an angle only for Rodman, his own team-mate, to take it away from him!
54 min: Yep, he’s gone down the tunnel so you’d expect Shrewsbury to be down to 10 for the next five minutes at least. Can West Ham capitalise?
53 min: Sadler has another problem: that blood is now streaming all down his face, it’s Terry Butcher all over again, he’s had to go off and you’d expect stitches looking at that ...
52 min: It’s hard to escape the conclusion that this will finish 0-0. West Ham are at least getting on the ball a tiny bit more at the moment though, and Ayew harmlessly flicks an Obiang free-kick towards goal after one move.
49 min: Masuaku, who is improving quite a lot from the bits I’ve seen of West Ham lately, does well to keep Whalley from getting to the ball at the byline and wins himself a goal kick.
47 min: Rodman makes big inroads and has space to shoot at goal on the 18 yard line. But he doesn’t, preferring to lay the ball to the right and eventually seeing the move break down. He should have shot – it was a decent position!
46 min: Hart catches an early, swirling cross from Whalley well. Will the Shrews be able to keep their tempo up?
Peeeeeeep! Second half underway
No changes. Will West Ham step things up a gear?
Anyway, come back now if you can – we’re a couple of minutes from the second half!
Not sure why anyone would be surprised by that first half from West Ham. Look at the team!
— Jacob Steinberg (@JacobSteinberg) January 7, 2018
Truth, there.
Half-time: Shrewsbury 0-0 West Ham
The half ends with some good Shrewsbury pressure – including a shot wide by Nolan, a teasing low cross from Morris and a corner that momentarily causes chaos. They’ve been much the better here, and came close to taking the lead when Hart saved very well from Sadler. West Ham look tired and disjointed and have offered the square root of nothing. Join me for what will, hopefully, be rather more than that in 15 minutes’ time!
45 min: Godfrey looks a very good player and surely has a future at Norwich, as a bare minimum. He wins another set piece with some lovely skill and strength. It doesn’t come to a lot though and the half is drifting to a close.
43 min: Then Kouyate gives Ayew a sight on the right side of the area but his attempt isn’t really a cross or a shot. Henderson gathers. That was the best move they’ve put together, which is saying nothing.
42 min: Hernandez holds the ball up well inside the home half and wins a free-kick. That was better, I suppose. Cullen, whose deliveries are decent, puts another nice one in but Nsiala is up high to head away.
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39 min: Henderson punches away a deep Cullen free-kick. It was something for the Shrewsbury goalkeeper to do.
37 min: The flag kick is dealt with. But West Ham are on the rack. The pressure, just now, is unrelenting and Rodman forces Hart into another parry from 18 yards after cutting inside.
36 min: And Sadler almost breaks the deadlock! A kind ricochet sets him through on Hart, at an angle on the left inside the box, and the hometown boy dives to his left and tips away superbly! The hosts would have deserved that! Now they win a corner ...
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35 min: Yes, they’re both back on and this scruffy, messy game gets back underway.
34 min: Sadler is bleeding heavily after all that and is being treated, too, on the sidelines by his own physio. He’s being patched up; Ayew is, meanwhile, being helped up and while care will need to be taken it seems as if he’ll be OK.
32 min: Now Ayew is down after a clash of heads with Sadler, which looked very painful. The physio is on.
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31 min: Nsiala creates space in his own half with a lovely dummy and releases Morris with a raking pass down the right channel, but Reid is in the right place to cut the move out. Shortly afterwards Nsiala produces something very similar and the pressure is this time sustained, finishing with a Beckles blast from 25 yards that sails not too far over.
28 min: West Ham haven’t offered a thing since that early Kouyate glanced header, which wasn’t really a close call at all.
26 min: Obiang is told to calm down after tripping the impressive Nolan. Shrewsbury look the more nimble and mobile. Whalley’s free-kick sails all the way to Godfrey at the far post; he just can’t quite get enough on it and Hart is down to gather.
24 min: Another Shrewsbury free-kick is plopped towards the box by Sadler, but doesn’t quite get there and West Ham launch a break that ends with a poor ball from Masuaku towards Ayew, which runs out of play.
21 min: Nolan makes ground down the right but Ogbonna cuts out his ball aimed for Whalley. Shrewsbury are really forcing the issue at the moment. Hernandez is up and about, by the way, after clutching his knee.
18 min: And at the moment this is panning out as predicted in the first couple of minutes: next to no space out there, a fair tempo but no real cohesion, real industry and energy from the home team, who are certainly having a good go. Hernandez, meanwhile, is down and in some pain ...
16 min: A much deeper Shrewsbury free-kick, aimed in by Whalley, causes much more trouble and forces Reid to concede a corner. It gives rise to some head tennis inside the area but, at length, West Ham get it away.
13 min: Joe Hart is wearing a cap to deal with the bright sun. He appeared to borrow it from a fan in the away support a few minutes in!
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12 min: ... but Nolan’s shot is poor, aimed straight into the wall when it called for some whip and dip.
11 min: Godfrey breaks through midfield brilliantly for the Shrews and frees Rodman, who is fouled in a great position 25 yards out ...
10 min: Something happens now, Masuaku winning West Ham a corner on the left. The first delivery from Cullen is headed out well by Morris; his second is whipped in deliciously and glanced a couple of yards wide by Kouyate.
7 min: I might be wrong but get the feeling this is going to be very scrappy unless something happens early. Understandably so. The ball is mainly pinging around between the boxes with little real control.
5 min: Moyes stressed pre-match that these are the only players he has available. They’ve played Tuesday-Thursday-Sunday after all. It’s a bit much.
3 min: I should have mentioned – Newport have beaten Leeds 2-1, right at the death, in this lunchtime’s other tie. A shock already!
2 min: The home side press well early on, but Hart deals well with an awkward clearance. Doesn’t look as if there’ll be loads of space out there for West Ham on this evidence.
Peeeeeep! Let's go!
Shrewsbury kick right to left, West Ham the other way.
Anyway – the teams are out on the pitch! We’re almost ready. It’s a beautiful sunny day.
Dangermen for the Shrews? There are a few but they have a couple of good players on loan from Norwich, Carlton Morris and Ben Godfrey. Morris, a talented forward, has six goals but has not scored since November. Eight-goal Stefan Payne is on the bench,
Hurst: “Lots of things have fallen into place but first of all it’s the players. The performances and commitment this season have been excellent and we hope to show that again today.”
@NickAmes82 A pretty decent starting lineup for West Ham against Shrewsbury Town (albeit with seemingly academy players for subs). Wonder if West Ham managed to win FA Cup, then get relegated at the end of the season...
— Ted Kesgar (@tkesgar) January 7, 2018
It’s been done, hasn’t it, Wigan>
Hammers fans, are you happy with that team? Shrews well-wishers, who should they be worried by? It will be interesting to see how Josh Cullen, recently on loan at Bolton and a decent young prospect, does in Moyes’s midfield. Reece Burke, the right wing-back, is back from Bolton too and similarly well thought-of.
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Team news
Shrewsbury: Henderson, Godfrey, Sadler, Beckles, Whalley, Ogogo, Morris, Bolton, Nolan, Nsiala, Rodman. Subs: Macgillivrary, Lowe, Dodds, Gnahoua, John-Lewis, B Morris, Payne.
West Ham: Hart, Burke, Rice, Reid, Ogbonna, Masuaku, Kouyate, Obiang, Cullen, Ayew, Hernandez. Subs: Adrian, Neufville, Quina, Makasi, Samuelsen, Haksabanovic, Martinez.
Joe Hart is, of course, back in Shrewsbury where it all began. Not only does he get a these days rare game – he gets the West Ham captaincy too! Otherwise it’s a quite decent looking mix of promise and experience for West Ham. Javier Hernandez could probably do with a goal or two here.
Preamble
Hello. Think of Shrewsbury and you think of lower-league strugglers, coracles, peat bog pitches at Gay Meadow, dim floodlights and dramatic late Nigel Jemson winners against Everton – managed by none other than David Moyes! Things have moved on a tad now. They play at a shinier new ground for one thing; for another thing they are currently second in League One, five points ahead of third place and going great guns under a very promising manager in Paul Hurst.
Even if they aren’t that gritty and grotty anymore, this has “cupset” scrawled large. West Ham may have shut out the bigger sides effectively under Moyes but their relegation battle is taking a toll and, for one thing, they may make a few changes this afternoon. For another, this is another form of homecoming for Moyes himself – he played for Shrewsbury between 1987 and 1990, sticking his head in where it hurt at centre-back, and wouldn’t it be something to bloody the nose of an old boy who has moved on to various more exotic adventures?
Yes, it would. Can Shrewsbury emulate Coventry and claim a top-flight scalp? We’ll find out from 2pm onwards, so join me here and do send in your tweets and emails – addresses provided above.
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