CONWAY TRAFFIC
Rocking Robins are Cup heroes as Hammers are dumped at Ashton Gate
TOMMY CONWAY’S early goal and a red card for Said Benrahma made it a nightmare return to Ashton Gate for David Moyes.
The West Ham boss saw his side turfed out of the FA Cup by the club he played for in two Wembley finals of the EFL Trophy during the 1980s after a fiery third-round replay.
Bristol City could not have hoped for a better start as Konstantinos Mavropanos gifted the Championship club the opening goal on three minutes.
His back pass from wide on the touchline lacked the pace to reach Lukasz Fabianski and
Conway (right) nipped in to round the goalkeeper before producing a cool finish from a narrow angle in the third minute.
The Hammers had to play with 10 men from the 51st minute when Benrahma was sent off for kicking out at Joe Williams following a foul on him which earned the Bristol City midfield man a booking.
Both goalkeepers made important saves in a stirring battle that saw Liam Manning’s team hold on to earn a fourthround home tie with Nottingham Forest or Blackpool.
Without the injured Lucas Paqueta and Jarrod Bowen, Moyes made four changes from the 1-1 draw at the London Stadium. In came Benrahma and Danny Ings, with Aaron Cresswell and Maxwel Cornet also in the starting line-up in place of Pablo Fornals and Edson Alvarez.
Bristol City head coach Manning gave a full debut to midfielder Ross Mccrorie, demoting Sam Bell to the bench, and made one other change from the first meeting, with Matty James replacing Jason Knight.
Conway’s early goal sparked a confident Bristol City start and midfielder Anis Mehmeti shot over from the striker’s pass. West Ham grew into the game, with Ings shooting wide from outside the box and Mavropanos just failing to get a touch to a dangerous free-kick.
Cornet might have done better when volleying wide from close range on 25 minutes.
Then Ings got on the end of an Emerson cross only to see his shot scrambled clear. Goalkeeper Max O’leary failed to gather the resulting corner, but more desperate defending spared his blushes. The Robins had the final
efforts of the first half when Mehmeti’s low shot was pushed wide by Fabianski, who also gathered Robert Dickie’s header from the corner.
The game reached a flashpoint soon after the break when Williams slid in on Benrahma, who reacted by lashing out.
Referee Darren England first showed Williams a yellow card and then dismissed Benrahma.
With tempers flaring on both sides Taylor Gardner-hickman and Cresswell were booked on 63 minutes for an off-the-ball skirmish.
Emerson had a shot blocked and Kurt Zouma fired over as the Hammers fought to get back in the game. O’leary produced a fine 67th-minute save to tip over an Ings shot from Cornet’s left-wing cross.
But there was an equally good chance at the other end as Fabianski was forced to parry a fierce drive from Bristol City substitute Nahki Wells.
West Ham were relieved to see another Wells effort just clear the crossbar as the home side saw out the game in impressive style.
They looked the more likely scorers at the death, with another substitute Knight shooting wide deep into four minutes of stoppage time.