Recently we triumphed over Brentford in the FA Cup via a penalty shootout: A 5-3 win resulting in a place in the FA Cup Quarter Finals; a home tie against Leeds United. In what has been a difficult season, the FA Cup run has galvanised the squad, which has also seen the League form pick up, giving us a real chance of survival with seven games remaining. The good form began with the Third Round FA Cup win against Queens Park Rangers.
A History of Heartbreak and Heroics
Growing up I had always seemed to taste defeat in penalty shoot-outs; watching England lose in the 1990 World Cup Semi-Final to West Germany as well as another defeat to Germany in the Euro 96 Semi-Final and finally the defeat in France 98 to Argentina. However, in contrast in the 1990s I had seen West Ham beat Blackburn Rovers 5-4 in the FA Cup 1997. I’ll always remember Steve Lomas wheeling away to celebrate after scoring the winning penalty at Ewood park. We would then play Arsenal in the Quarter-Finals and after securing a replay with a good result at Highbury, we unfortunately succumbed to penalty shootout heartache when Samassi Abou missed in sudden death. I was behind the goal in the Bobby Moore Lower that night and felt despair in that moment. In 1999 I also witnessed another penalty shootout at the Bobby Moore Lower end when we defeated Aston Villa to book a place in the League Cup Semi-Final. Gareth Southgate revived memories of Euro 96 seeing his sudden-death penalty saved by Shaka Hislop. A certain Manny Omoyinmi made an appearance that night for the Hammers, coming on in the 88th minute, which resulted in the game being replayed as he had already played in the competition that year for Gillingham. He was therefore cup-tied. West Ham lost the replay.
The 2006 FA Cup Final Despair
I think the most pain I felt was in the FA Cup Final in 2006 when we played in the most memorable FA Cup Final ever, in my opinion. A 3-3 draw with Liverpool, with that Steven Gerrard equaliser, which broke every West Ham fans heart in the dying seconds. We went onto lose the penalty shootout missing three of our four penalties.
Adrian’s Gloves and Modern Shootout Success
We have since had success in penalty shootouts. I’ll always remember the 2015 FA Cup Third Round triumph over Everton at Upton Park: a 11-10 win in a dramatic shootout. Adrian stepped up, taking his gloves off mid-run up, throwing them to the floor and scoring the winning penalty. Upton Park was rocking that night. In addition, in 2021, we defeated Manchester City 5-3 on penalties in the League Cup at the London Stadium, ending City’s dominance in the competition. It has been a mixed bag with penalty shootouts for West Ham over the years. It’s never boring supporting this club.
Togetherness Under Nuno Espirito Santo
What struck me with the most recent penalty shootout triumph over Brentford was the sheer self-assurance and confidence our five penalty-takers had. Bowen, Castellanos, Wilson, Soucek and Mavropanos all took brilliant penalties. In contrast to this was the failed Panenka taken by Dango Ouattara. It was probably the easiest save Alphonse Areola has ever made. It reminded me of Ademola Lookman’s failed Panenka attempt whilst playing for Fulham against West Ham in the Covid years. Lukasz Fabianski saving that penalty easily. What was also noticeable was the togetherness the players showed in the Brentford penalty shootout triumph, which has been in place for the last two months. The players are all playing for one another and there is a real team spirit that has developed under Nuno Espirito Santo. As I said previously, the FA Cup run has worked well in tandem with the League campaign, which has seen our fortunes changing. The Quarter-Final draw was kind to us and I felt we had a real chance of progressing to the FA Cup Semi-Final. Leeds United supporters were saying the same thing of course but I feel that good things are happening at the club. Before the game, I felt if it ended up going to a penalty shootout once again, I was confident in our players once again stepping up confidently.
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