Late West Ham Strike Sinks Liverpool’s FA Cup Dream

Angelo Ogbonna headed home the winner in the dying minutes of extra time to give West Ham a dramatic 2-1 victory over Liverpool in their FA Cup fourth round replay on Tuesday.

The former Juventus defender soared to head home his first West Ham goal in the 121st minute from a Dimitri Payet free kick, after Lucas Leiva fouled Enner Valencia.

The home side took the lead moments before half-time when Michail Antonio guided a superb volley into the top corner after Liverpool had controlled the early stages without being able to find a breakthrough.

Advertisement

Liverpool equalized from a free kick in the 48th minute after Pedro Obiang brought down striker Christian Benteke on the edge of the area.

Philippe Coutinho played in a clever free kick under West Ham’s defensive wall three minutes into the second half.

And Ogbonna struck the winner in stoppage time, planting his header well beyond Simon Mignolet, to mark West Ham’s first ever FA Cup win against Liverpool.

“It is a special night for our club and I’m so proud and happy for our players and proud of everyone who has any connection with the club,” West Ham manager Slaven Bilic said after the game.

Advertisement

“We scored a great header in the last second of the game, and we had injuries, and we overcame all of that. So that’s why this game will go down in the history as one of the greatest nights and games for our club.”

The return of Sturridge, who has being on the sidelines since december was the best news of the night for Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp, who said: “Tomorrow when we get up the sun will shine and if we feel all at one at Liverpool then we can take a lot of positives from this game and make the next step.”

West Ham will face second tier Blackburn Rovers in the next round.

Leave a comment

Advertisement