Dublin Hammers Gallery - FA Cup 1980 - 3rd Round
West Bromich Albion vs West Ham United - 3rd Round - Saturday 5th January 1980
Final Score: 1-1 (Half-time 0-1).
Scorers: WBA; Regis (89). West Ham Utd; Pearson (33).
Venue: The Hawthorns.
Attendance: 20,572.
Teams
WBA: Godden, Batson, Statham, Trewick, Wile (c), Robertson, Deehan, A.Brown, Regis, Owen, Barnes.
West Ham United: Parkes, Stewart, Lampard (c), Brush, Martin, Devonshire, Allen, Pearson, Pike, Brooking, Neighbour.
What the programme said...
As with any "sudden death" contest, there will be conflicting opinions as to whether or not we should have made certain of a Fourth Round place by winning at The Hawthorns.
Albion literally snatched the hopes of a replay from the jaws of death by equalising during "injury time"; indeed, the referee allowed only 26 seconds of play after the re-start, with the score at 1-1.
In the circumstances such as those any team could well make the claim that they were "robbed" of victory. Furthermore, a considerable number of fans (and more than a few players and officials) had doubts as to whether or not the ball was fairly played before Cyrille Regis slotted in that equaliser.
At the time, general opinion seemed to be on the side of our XI who made vehement protests; it was subsequently advised that a video-tape of the incident upheld the referee's verdict to allow the goal to stand. "The camera cannot lie" is a standard axiom, but it would appear that the decision was literally in the hair-line category.
From Albion's veiwpoint they must obviously have considered that fate eventually came down on their side. The Midlanders had thrown a lot of shots in the direction of our goal, but time and time again were foiled by Phil Parkes. The scribes had no option but to give our goalkeeper the "man-of-the-match" award, and this was underlined by the ten-out-of-ten marking in the appropriate reports. Indeed, W.B.A. manager Ron Atkinson considered it was worth twelve-out-of-ten!
Those were the pros-and-cons of a game that could justify the description of first-rate entertainment. Possibly a draw was the fairest overall result, but there must be some on both sides of the contestants who thought otherwise. In the end it still came down to one salient fact - a replay!
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| Stuart Pearson got in early to convert Brooking's pass for our goal. | "Man of the Match" Phil Parkes produced this goal stopping save, among many others. |
West Ham United vs West Bromich Albion - 3rd Round Replay - Tuesday 8th January
Scorers: West Ham Utd; Pike (53), Brooking (84). WBA; T.Brown (85).
Venue: Upton Park.
Attendance: 30,689.
Teams
West Ham United: Parkes, Stewart, Lampard (c), Brush, Martin, Devonshire, Allen, Pearson, Pike, Brooking, Neighbour.
WBA: Godden, Batson, Statham, Trewick, Wile (c), Robertson, Deehan, A.Brown, Regis, Owen, Barnes. Sub: T.Brown.
What the programme said...
ONE NOT TO BE "MIST"!
The second half of this tie posed two major threats to a Hammers' victory. The first was the possibility that the gathering mist might get worse and bring a calling-off; the second was that Albion would snatch another late equaliser after dragging themselves back into contention after reducing their 0-2 deficit.
The momentary lapse by our defence a minute after we had seemingly put the game on ice left the Hammers' fans on tenderhooks until the end of an enthralling but not entirely classic contest. There was plenty of good football - mostly from our team - but overall there was also an ubderlying current of over-hard tackling that gave the feeling that W.B.A. had approached their visit to Upton Park with more than the usual temerity.
A couple of bookings reflected that uncertainty and might even have brought one dissmissal.
None of these events detracted from the glory of the Hammers' well-earned victory. It was gained without the on-the-field inspiration of skipper Billy Bonds, who was kept out by an injury first apparent some days earlier; Billy must certainly have been aching to get out there with his team, but could console himself by the fact that they overcame another Cup hurdle.
So... off we go again on another Cup quest. The next round provides another hard task, for this season's F.A. Cup results have already shown that lower status is no respecter of the "upper crust"!
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| Man of the Match Geoff Pike, was obviously elated after netting our first! |
Trevor Brooking made it 2-0 with this shot. |
Other Scores from the 3rd Round
Halifax Town 1 vs Man.City 0 Cardiff City 0 vs Arsenal 2 Everton 4 vs Aldershot 1 Chelsea 0 vs Wigan Athletic 1 Wrexham 6 vs Charlton 0 |
Leeds Utd 1 vs Notts.Forest 4 Liverpool 5 vs Grimsby 0 Bristol City 6 vs Derby County 2 Newcastle 0 vs Chester 2 Altrincham 1 vs Orient 2 |