Angelo Ogbonna missed the decisive penalty to help Blackburn produce one of the shock football scores of the midweek action in the Carabao Cup. The Hammers appeared to have recovered after Pablo Fornals and Michail Antonio cancelled out Jack Vale’s early goal, but Ben Brereton Diaz’s equaliser two minutes from time forced a penalty shootout. Then both sides put on a shootout of incredible nerve and brilliance, scoring 19 straight goals until Angelo Ogbonna’s attempt hit the crossbar to end the streak. Despite resting several of his starting XI’s important players for the Carabao Cup match, Jon Dahl Tomasson’s Sky Bet Championship team advanced to the round of 16.
Dilan Markanday had already passed up a wonderful one-on-one opportunity with Alphonse Areola when Nayef Aguerd accidentally played him through before Vale calmly waltzed through a stale defence to score. Antonio was a constant threat going down both channels, so the goal roused West Ham. When Fornals was allowed space in the area after his run down the right side in minute 38 forced the Rover’s defence to falter, he smashed the ball in from 15 yards. West Ham proved to be their worst enemy once more as Conor Coventry, another one of their own players, let Markanday through on goal. However, despite getting around Areola this time, Markanday’s shot was deflected off the line by Ogbonna.
Antonio nearly added to Moyes’ team’s score after a left-wing corner on minute 57, but he somehow managed to bundle his shot from close range against the post. Moyes’ squad is always a serious threat from set pieces. Since Antonio was the driving force behind West Ham’s aggressive play, it was no surprise that he was the one to score what appeared to be the game-winning goal with 13 minutes remaining. Antonio took care of the rest with a strong finish into the bottom corner after Jarrod Bowen, who had been called upon from the bench, had knocked the ball into his path.
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