Bevington
‘ The SFA are under a microscopic lens more than many other organisations and have my sympathy
Will Grigg’s double, the clincher (above) from a penalty, saw League One Wigan Athletic knock West Ham out of the FA Cup yesterday.
WIGAN ATHLETIC 2
Grigg (7, 62 pen)
WEST HAM UNITED 0 Maybe they should re-name Murphy’s Law “Moyes’s Law” because everything that possibly could go wrong did go wrong for the West Ham United manager.
Dumped out of the FA Cup by a League One side, a man sent off for spitting, another carried off with serious ligament damage and a spineless display that had furious Hammers fans singing: “Sack the Board.”
West Ham were outplayed, out-battled and out-thought by Paul Cook’s team, for whom it was the second consecutive Premier League scalp in the competition.
It’s less than five years since Wigan beat Manchester City in the Cup Final, but the club has moved in a diametrically opposite direction to their big city neighbours since.
But this was a throwback to those glory days and, like the song says, Will Grigg was on fire, scoring his 13th and 14th goals of the season.
The Hammers were reduced to 10 men four minutes into the second half when French midfielder Arthur Masuaku inexplicably spat at former Manchester United youngster Nick Powell.
And Moyes was furious – not only because Masuaku now faces a six game ban at a time when the Hammers have a dozen injuries, but because he was personally disgusted by his player’s actions.
“Arthur – what he done is despicable,” said the Scot.
“He deserves everything he gets and he’ll get something from us as well. It’s totally unacceptable.
“What I will say is that the referee doesn’t see it. It was the players’ reaction that got him sent off but, ultimately, they got the right decision, so I can have no qualms about it.
“I’ve not seen that in Arthur before, to be honest. He’s a really good boy around the club. I’ve enjoyed him, so I’d definitely have to say it is out of character.
“But it doesn’t matter what your character is. If you do that you’re going to get the punishment.
“I just asked him if he spat and he said yes. He’s not apologised to everyone yet, but when we get back to the training ground we’ll sort it out. “You can’t do that anywhere.” With Pedro Obiang carried off with suspected medial ligament damage and Masuaku’s suspension, Moyes confessed that he is worried about the team he can put out against Crystal Palace in the Premier League encounter on Tuesday.
“We are without a lot of players and we have to find ways of winning,” he said. “But that’s what I’ve done over my career.”
Only one club in the English League pyramid have won more matches than Wigan this season – Manchester City.
Bournemouth were on the end of an embarrassing 3-0 pasting in the last round, so it really shouldn’t have been that much of a shock when it took just seven minutes for the League One leaders to shock their visitors.
Joe Hart stayed on his line, the Hammers defence failed to deal with Nathan Burke’s deep cross, and Northern Ireland striker Grigg headed in at the far post.
With Gareth Southgate in attendance – no doubt because he’s worried about Hart’s lack of game time in the Premier League – the goal certainly would not have done England’s senior keeper any favours.
Wigan thought they had another three minutes later when centreback Chey Dunkley bundled in another cross, but the linesman’s flag ruled it offside.
Just before the break, Wigan’s skipper Sam Morsy preserved his team’s lead with a brilliant double block from Javier Hernandez and Josh Cullen.
Whatever chance the Hammers had of getting back into the game receded in the 49th minute when Masuaku was shown a straight red card for spitting at Powell as the West Ham man was waiting to take a throw in.
Wigan didn’t take long to press home the advantage of their numerical superiority, and Grigg won a penalty just after the hour.
He tried to clip the ball over Reece Burke, who was on loan at the DW Stadium last season, and referee Kavanagh judged the contact to be handball.
Grigg took the kick himself and sent Hart the wrong way.
Cook said afterwards: “The match had a massive defining moment.
“The sending off was huge and in my opinion altered the course of the game.
“It had a positive effect on us because after that West Ham couldn’t really put us under pressure.”