Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
GOALDEN BROWN’S HAMMER
Man Utd 0
West Ham 1
Kenny Brown 66 Att: 24,197 Division 1, April 22, 1992 BY WEST HAM faced Mission Impossible when Manchester United came to Upton Park.
The Hammers were certain to be relegated and miss out on the first Premier League as, with only three games left, they sat bottom of the table, needing a miracle to survive.
Under Alex Ferguson, United looked on course to end their
25-year wait to be crowned champions. They had been crowned champions at Upton Park in 1967 with a 6-1 win and headed to East London a point behind table-toppers Leeds – with a game in hand on their title rivals. But they were also tired.
The match at Upton Park was United’s fourth in just seven days, a crazy spell that also included the League Cup Final against
Nottingham Forest, a match won by Brian McClair’s strike.
What followed at the Boleyn Ground was a match remembered as one of the best in West Ham’s history on the club’s website.
The table was turned upside down for 90 minutes as the bottom side outplayed the title contenders.
Ferguson (below) witnessed United unable to muster a single shot on target in the first half – a razor-thin offside decision denying Ryan Giggs a one-on-one with Ludek Miklosko – but the Hammers keeper was busier after the break.
The Czech flung himself full length to his left to keep out Mark Hughes’ spectacular bicycle-kick. Thirty seconds later, West Ham were ahead.
They kept out United’s corner and counterattacked at pace, Stuart Slater’s cross going to Gary Pallister and his clearance landing on the left boot of Kenny Brown (above) on the edge of the area.
The Irons full-back steered his volley into the bottom corner off the post, his first goal for seven months.
The closest United came to an equaliser was when Miklosko kept out Giggs’ shot at his near post. West Ham still went down. And Leeds pipped United for the title.