Jarrod Bowen built on his brace to help West Ham produce one of the most comfortable football scores of the weekend in the FA Cup. Jarrod Bowen and Michail Antonio scored for the Hammers, who will now face Manchester United in a cup competition for the seventh time in seven years. The contest is slated to take place the week of February 27. West Ham and United will compete against each other in a cup game for the third time in a row. The Hammers won 1-0 at Old Trafford in the Carabao Cup last year and defeated their fifth-round FA Cup opponents by the same tally the year before.
Paul Warne’s squad is presently fourth in the third tier, and the 25,308 home supporters had high hopes for an unexpected victory before the game. Derby’s Tom Barkhuizen, a forward, easily slipped past West Ham’s defense, bursting through in the opening minute before his cut-back was cleared. Shortly after, Bowen sent a sloppy shot at Derby goalkeeper Joe Wildsmith, but he was more cautious in the tenth minute. Derby was caught off guard by Antonio’s over-the-top ball, and Bowen successfully completed a six-yard pass from Tomas Soucek.
After Barkhuizen seized on Craig Forsyth’s dinked pass to find the Derby striker with a beautiful cross, James Collins’ just-off-target shot concluded Derby’s best performance of the half. Barkhuizen and Nathaniel Mendez-Laing had Derby’s best chances to tie the game before halftime, but neither was able to get a shot on goal. At halftime, the good news for Rams fans was that their team was still in the game against a top-flight club that wasn’t playing at its best. However, five minutes into the second half, the home squad was down 2-0. Derby captain Curtis Davies’ sliced clearance that dropped into Bowen’s path down the right resulted in Antonio’s goal at the far post.
Following that, Warne introduced four substitutes: Tony Springett, Liam Thompson, Lewis Dobbin, and Eiran Cashin. Their active legs were helpful to Derby. Haydon Roberts came within a few millimeters of completely connecting Dobbin’s superb cross, but the Rams immediately began to withdraw. Before Ben Johnson’s slanted shot was rejected by the Derby goalkeeper, Bowen was first denied by a point-blank save from Wildsmith and then a last-ditch tackle from Cashin. The Rams gave it their all right up until the last bell, and Dobbin came perilously close to being rewarded for an excellent cameo performance when he shot straight at Alphonse Areola, but County was unable to bridge the difference that night in class.
“I found out the draw while sitting on the bench. Listen, winning these competitions is never easy. We must defeat the big clubs, yet we travel to Man United,” Jarrod Bowen said. “Even if Man United is a top-tier team, we have already encountered top-tier opposition numerous times, and in order to be the greatest, you must defeat the best. Getting a goal tonight against Everton was wonderful. I think that any amount of assurance from a player would be appreciated given the current situation.”
“Sincerity is damned, West Ham put up a show. At times, I thought we were fighting tooth and nail, but alas, we weren’t working hard enough to succeed. Since we challenged the boys to play their best tonight against a Premier League squad, we are unable to criticize them,” Derby manager Paul Warne said. “I guess we didn’t give it our all in the latter third, but I can’t really fault them. I wish West Ham luck because I know that they won’t have an easy draw following this one. I thought the boys occasionally gave a good account of themselves and other times they were punching.”
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