On the evening of February 5, Beijing time, in a match in the fourth round of the English FA Cup, the Hammers helped West Ham to challenge the sixth division team Kidderminster. After 90 minutes, West Ham relied on Rice's goal in the final moments to equalize 1-1 and drag the game into extra time. In the final moments of extra time, they relied on Bowen's goal to successfully advance to a 2-1 reversal.
West Ham, led by former Manchester United boss Moyes, has performed well in the past two seasons and is the favourite team in the Premier League to compete for 4. Before the winter break, they lost 1-0 away to Manchester United, losing their top 4 position in the league. But as the Premier League's current No. 5 team, away to sixth-tier team Kidmünster, it can be said that the suspense before the game is not big.
Kidderminster is currently 3rd in the league and is likely to be promoted this season. In the last round of the FA Cup, Kidderminster broke the cold, and they eliminated Reading from the Championship 2-1. Although Reading is only a relegation team in the Championship, the victory of the sixth-level team is still an unexpected result for many fans.
This game against West Ham, most fans believe that Kidderminster will suffer a big defeat. After all, judging from the starting list, Moyes sent half of the main players. Even Rice, who is worth 7500W, is also on standby, and it can be seen that the Hammers do not want to be the background board of the opponent.
However, only 18 minutes into the game, the Hammers were hit in the face. A free-kick opportunity, the West Ham goalkeeper saved the ball, then Kidderminster seized the opportunity to score, from the sixth level of the team magically led from the Premier League west Ham United.
After the goal, Kidderminster hugged all the members together, and the fans who did not know thought it was a crucial final goal. But for Kidderminster from the sixth division, such a score may be even happier than winning the league title.
Although the overall strength is not as good as West Ham, Kidderminster is not blindly sticking to this game. Although far inferior to West Ham in possession, the number of shots on goal was essentially flat between the two sides. In order to score, Moyes used up five substitutions early in the second half, replacing Shoczek, Rice and other home team main players.
West Ham, who attacked at full strength, still equalized in regular time. Rice relied on his personal ability to break through in the penalty area and then made a powerful shot to rewrite the score to a 1-1 draw. Such a goal avoided the emergence of the FA Cup big cold.
In extra time, West Ham, who thought they were stronger, would overwhelm their opponents, but they were almost dragged into a penalty shoot-out by Kidderminster. In the final moments of the game, West Ham relied on Bowen's goal to reverse the opponent 2-1. Facing this belated goal, Moyes on the sidelines was not at all happy, after all, the opponent was only a sixth-level team.
In the end, the Hammers had a thrilling promotion, and they actually needed to review the process of the game after the game. And Kidderminster, who almost created a miracle, also let many fans see their tenacity.