Heartache for Moyes’ Hammers

WEST Ham’s European dream faded and died after the red mist descended during an acrimonious 1-0 defeat away to Eintracht Frankfurt.

Full-back Aaron Cresswell was sent off in the first half to leave the Hammers facing an uphill battle, and manager David Moyes was also ordered from the touchline late on after angrily kicking a ball back towards a ball kid.

It was a sad end to an uplifting run to the last four of the Europa League, with West Ham beating sides from Croatia, Belgium, Austria, Spain and France to reach a first European semi-final since 1976.

But, trailing 2-1 from the first leg, against the same opposition that West Ham overturned the same deficit against on that famous night 46 years ago, Moyes’ side were unable to emulate Trevor Brooking, Billy Bonds et al by going on to reach the final.

Instead a 3-1 aggregate defeat put paid to their chance of a place in the Champions League – the prize for the winners of the trophy – next season.

Moyes told BT Sport: “I’m really disappointed. This was a chance. I think we’ve played better teams than Frankfurt, but if we’re being honest we probably lost the game in the first 30 seconds at the London Stadium when we conceded a goal.

“From that moment we were chasing the game. It didn’t go for us on the night here, small things didn’t happen. But I’m really proud of the players, how they played with 10 men.”

On his red card, Moyes added: “(I’ve got ) Lots of complaints. I kicked the ball back at the ball boy, so I apologised for that.”

David Moyes saw red.