Key events
Peter Lansley was at Villa Park, and his report is in. Here it is! Thanks for reading this MBM. Keep safe and warm, everyone. Nighty night.
Unai Emery talks to ITV. “Happy … but we were trying to set an objective of not conceding an easy goal, but we did it early again … we responded well … we didn’t concede chances again … we are conceding a lot of goals, but our most important objective is to win … we try to be strong here, to have a fortress … it is very important which team we will face after today … we want to get something in the Champions League, in the Premier League and now in the FA Cup.”
Graham Potter speaks to ITV. “The start was really good, really positive … good organisation … a threat … reduced Villa to not too much … second half Villa stepped up … obviously losing Fullkrug and Summerville influenced our attacking part of the game … I’m not sure their first goal was a corner … it’s one of those things … then at 2-1 down we regrouped a little bit … a couple of chances at the end … disappointed to go out of course … but lots of positives … the players gave everything … Ollie Scarles was really good … the preparation was really good … the attitude of the players was good … we dropped a little too deep … the injuries to our two key attacking players was a blow as well.”
Post-game postbag from the away end at Villa Park. “It’s a celebration here tonight for Villa, and all beer is £1.50,” reports Ian Sargeant. “Except in the away section. Cheers. Meanwhile one 20-something Hammer tried ‘Champions of Europe, you’ll never sing that.’ Honestly, what do they teach the kids these days?”
Match-winner Morgan Rogers talks to ITV. “Obviously to go 1-0 down isn’t what we want … but we showed courage and determination … we played pretty well … controlled the game … when you keep pushing, hopefully it goes in … we were more forward thinking … we created chances and mayhem … we’ve got belief in the changing room … we can come back against anyone … why can’t we win [the cup] … you have to take it game by game … we want to go on a run … it’s a historic competition and we’re going to do our best to win it.”
Aston Villa were so much better in that second half. Admittedly the bar was almost subterranean, so poor were they in the first, but an improvement’s an improvement, and such was their dominance during the last quarter of the match, you can’t really argue with the turnaround and the result. Er … except for the fairly large caveat that the corner that led to Villa’s equaliser should never have been awarded, an egregious mistake that West Ham will be within their rights to be livid about. Having said that, they failed to deal with the resulting set piece, and were unable to clear their heads thereafter. Debate will rage on, so just be thankful that the absence of VAR had absolutely no bearing on this particular controversy, as it couldn’t have intervened on the award of a corner anyway. Villa will be delighted with their rare win in the FA Cup; West Ham, once the pain and irritation abates, will be encouraged by an improved display under their new boss.
FULL TIME: Aston Villa 2-1 West Ham United
It’s their party and they’ll cry if they want to party all night! Villa win in the third round for only the third time since 2016.
90 min +5: … Villa make a collective mess of clearing. The ball drops to Ings, 12 yards out. He swivels, and probably should score, but leans back and hoicks a shot wide left and high. A huge chance to force extra-time goes begging. That will probably be that!
90 min +4: Kudus, driving down the right, curls towards Cresswell in acres on the left. Cresswell batters a shot that’s deflected out by Nedeljkovic, who had made a fine recovery run. Then from the resulting corner …
90 min +3: A huge roar of relief from the Villa faithful as that Soler shot sailed into the stand. So close now to a rare third-round victory!
90 min +2: … Olsen punches half-clear. The ball’s returned into the mixer and breaks to Soler on the edge of the D. Soler, half facing the wrong way, pivots and lumps a shot miles over the bar.
90 min +1: Space for Wan-Bissaka down the right. He crosses well. Soucek flicks on for Ings, on the left-hand corner of the six-yard box. Ings tries to hook goalwards, but Morgan is on hand to turn out for a corner. From which …
90 min: There will be six additional minutes. Extra time if West Ham can find an equaliser!
89 min: Watkins drives at the dispirited West Ham defence. He slips in Nedeljkovic on the right. Nedeljkovic has Morgan free in the middle, but slaps a poor cross into the path of Kilman, who hammers clear. Big chance to wrap this up.
87 min: There’s been absolutely no response from West Ham to that double whammy. Perhaps understandable, given the outrageous decision to award the corner that led to the equaliser … but then you have to defend the resulting set piece, and keep on keeping on from there. And West Ham signally haven’t done that.
85 min: Tielemans whips the corner to the near stick. Buendia eyebrows into the arms of Fabianski.
84 min: Mavropanos takes a while to sit up. He looks dazed. He won’t be able to continue. He’s replaced by Soler, while Guilherme comes on for Alvarez.
82 min: Mavropanos slips in the centre circle, allowing Rogers to race off with the ball. He tries to win the ball back while on all fours, leading with his head, and takes a whack from Rogers’ boot. Not sure what the defender was expecting there. Rogers feeds Watkins, who wins a corner. Then the physio comes on to fix the brave, if ill-advised, defender’s noggin.
80 min: Meanwhile for West Ham, Cresswell has come on for Scarles.
79 min: … and now the other sub Ramsey pearls a diagonal shot off the left-hand upright, Fabianski beaten all ends up! What substitutions!
77 min: In between goals, Ramsey, Buendia and Nedeljkovic came on for Bailey, Kamara and Cash. It was Buendia who fed Watkins in the build-up to Rogers’ goal.
GOAL! Aston Villa 2-1 West Ham United (Rogers 75)
West Ham’s heads are addled. They allow Watkins to sashay down the inside-left channel, practically unchallenged. Watkins enters the box and nutmegs Mavropanos with a cross. Rogers, at the near post, sticks out a leg to flick powerfully home. What a turnaround!
73 min: That’s a huge mistake by the referee and his linesman, because Onana’s shank out of play didn’t hit any West Ham player. No VAR, but then VAR couldn’t have gotten involved anyway, because they don’t intervene over the award of corners. There was a small coming together between Paqueta and Konsa, too, the West Ham player taking one in the face, but that’s putting a hat on a hat. The corner’s the big problem there.
GOAL! Aston Villa 1-1 West Ham United (Onana 71)
The corner ends up at the feet of Maatsen, to the left of the D. He shoots low and hard, towards the bottom right. Fabianski parries, but only into the path of Onana, who can’t miss from a couple of yards and bundles home!
70 min: Cash makes another power run down the right. Another corner, from which Onana nips in from the left and slices dreadfully wide right of goal. Miles wide. But they’re awarded the corner anyway. Some karmic payback for Villa, who were denied a clear corner minutes before. And from that …
69 min: Villa are picking it up for the first time this evening. Maatsen sends a swerving shot goalwards that Fabianski does extremely well to push away from the bottom left. It was heading in.
68 min: Cash romps after a long pass down the right and hooks it infield for Watkins, racing in towards the near post. Watkins can’t get a shot away. Just a flick that ends up in the arms of Fabianski.
66 min: Kamara robs Coufal in the centre circle and feeds Watkins down the middle. Watkins rolls right for Bailey, who takes a shot that’s blocked. The ball rebounds to Tielemans, who sends a low drive through a crowded box and inches wide of the bottom-left corner. It should be a corner – the ball took a flick off a West Ham boot – but a goal kick’s awarded instead.
64 min: Nothing comes of the resulting corner. “Champions League, you’re having a laugh,” trill the ecstatic away fans, in full party-pooping mode.
63 min: Cash pushes his way down the right and earns a corner. Bailey takes. Kilman clears. Villa come back at West Ham, Tielemans latching onto Maatsen’s pass down the right. He crosses low. The ball flicks off Alvarez, and Tielemans wants a penalty for handball, but there’s nothing doing, and no VAR. Replays show the ball went nowhere near Alvarez’s hand.
61 min: Now it’s Maatsen’s turn to escape a booking for a cynical tug, on Coufal. Referees these days are as predictable and readable as cats. Only without the feline charm.
59 min: Coufal looks up for this. Barrelling down the right, he creams a first-time cross through the corridor of uncertainty. Ings isn’t far away from meeting it in spectacular style. After a slow start to the second half, West Ham are getting adventurous again.
58 min: Scarles curls a fine free kick towards Kilman at the far stick. The ball pings off Cash and out for a corner … but the whistle goes, correctly, for Kilman’s shove on Cash.
57 min: Rogers does go into the book this time, for barging an in-flight Wan-Bissaka over. A free kick out on the right. Scarles to deliver it.
56 min: Paqueta’s presence earns West Ham a corner down the left. Coufal swings it in. Olsen doesn’t deal with it convincingly, but does just enough to clear.
55 min: Coufal chests down and looks to burst into space, only to be dragged back by Rogers. Just a free kick, no booking, and a reminder that they’re all making it up as they go along.
54 min: This is better from Villa. Rogers nearly releases Watkins into the West Ham box down the middle with a sliderule pass, but Mavropanos leverages the striker out of the road just in time. Then Bailey advances down the right and cuts back for Rogers, who slices over the bar from the edge of the box. The crowd up for the first time in a while.
53 min: Scarles dribbles hard down the left before gliding inside and threading a cute pass infield for Alvarez … who should take up possession in a dangerous position just to the left of the D but miscontrols.
51 min: Konsa launches long for Cash down the right. Offside. The home fans groan. Yet another third-round exit is on the cards for Villa, unless they click into gear soon.
49 min: … so having said that, the pace drops significantly as Villa stroke it around the back. Morgan tries to up the tempo again but miscontrols as he skitters down the left. Then Onana flicks a clever pass down the left for Maatsen, who takes the wildest of swipes from a tight angle. He shanks it straight into the Holte End.
47 min: Kamara launches a probe down the right for Cash. Kilman is forced to come across and bash a clearance into the stand. The throw, deep in West Ham territory, leads to nothing, but there’s an early sign that the hosts have been told to pick up the pace a bit.
Villa get the party re-started. West Ham have made one change, replacing Summerville, who had been feeling that hamstring, with Coufal. “£1.50 lagers and soft drinks are a nice retro touch, but are the serving sizes normal? Or are we talking about a shrinkflated thimble-sized cups of quaff? The magic of the tiny cup?” Peter Oh, ladies and gentlemen. He’s here all week. Try the sausage rolls, pies and pints.
Half-time advertising break / entertainment. We’ll have live coverage of the big Liverpool v Accrington Stanley clash tomorrow lunchtime, so please join us for that. And while we’re on the subject of Liverpool, here’s Barney Ronay, hot off the press …
HALF TIME: Aston Villa 0-1 West Ham United
A smattering of boos from the Aston Villa fans as the whistle goes for half-time. It’s their 150th birthday party and they’ll cry if they want to.
45 min +3: Maatsen races down the left touchline towards space, hoping Mings, under no pressure himself, will find him with a long pass. Mings turns his back on the unfolding situation, much to the irritation of his own fans. That’s not the first time he’s opted against the long pass towards a man in space, and not the first time the Villa faithful have said their piece.
45 min +1: The first of four additional first-half minutes. Nothing happens during it.
45 min: Yes, Summerville looks like he’s moving just fine. Ings, out on the right, nearly finds him in the Villa box with a low curling cross from the right. A wee bit too far ahead of his man.
43 min: Kamara slips a pass down the inside-right channel for Bailey, who fires a low cross into the centre. Summerville, hamstring presumably OK, is on point to hook clear. That’s better from Villa, who come again through Cash down the right. He wins a corner from which nothing comes.
41 min: Villa are clearly trying to up the tempo, aware that it’s not been going well for them. But things still aren’t working. Mings tries to barge his way into space down the left but skittles Mavropanos and the free kick releases the pressure on West Ham. If it can really be described as pressure.
39 min: … and now he’s in space to receive a ball in the West Ham box on the right, but Tielemans blooters a simple pass out for a goal kick. A chance to finally cut through the West Ham back line wasted. Villa have been poor bordering on dreadful so far.
38 min: Bailey is thankfully fine to continue.
36 min: Bailey slips over out on the right wing. No foul, but Bailey had over-extended his leg so Paqueta stops the game. It’s not quite up there with Paolo Di Canio against Everton, but it’s a kind act of Hammers-infused sportsmanship nonetheless.
34 min: Kudus takes a whack from distance. A low drive straight at Olsen. The keeper makes a meal of holding onto the ball, and had Ings been on his toes, it could have been a problem. But Olsen claims at the second attempt.
32 min: Onana is fine, but Summerville has also gone down, and he’s gingerly holding the back of his right leg. Not another hamstring? He’ll continue for now.
