Manchester United 0 West Ham United 1
Tevez 45
Premier League, Old Trafford, Sunday 13 May 2007
Manchester United: Van der Sar, O'Shea, Brown, Heinze, Evra (Giggs 57), Solskjaer, Carrick (Scholes 58), Fletcher, Richardson, Smith (Ronaldo 58), Rooney
Subs not used: Kuszczak (GK), Vidic
West Ham United: Green, Neill ©, Ferdinand, Collins, McCartney (Spector 28), Benayoun, Reo-Coker, Noble, Boa Morte, Tevez (Mullins 82), Zamora (Harewood 63)
Subs not used: Walker (GK), Davenport
The term 'Great Escape' is used every time a team avoids relegation in unlikely circumstances, but surely it has never been used more accurately than when describing West Ham United's 2006/07 campaign.
After making a strong return to the Premier League under the management of Alan Pardew in 2005/06, finishing ninth, the following season turned into a nightmare.
Pardew departed in mid-December 2006, a month after the Club had been bought by Icelandic investors, with former Hammers midfielder and long-time Charlton Athletic manager Alan Curbishley recruited to replace him.
Initially, Curbishley could not turn fortunes around, and West Ham were languishing ten points from safety with just nine games to play at the start of March 2007.
But an amazing run of six wins from their next eight matches lifted the east Londoners into 17th spot, three points ahead of Wigan Athletic in the relegation zone, with just a final-day fixture at newly-crowned champions Manchester United left to play.
Languishing in 18th spot, Wigan were themselves playing at 16th-placed Sheffield United and imply had to win their final game to survive, while the Hammers knew that they needed to take at least one point off the champions to guarantee their own survival. Neil Warnock's Blades also knew they would depart the Premier League if they lost to Paul Jewell's side and the Hammers returned from the Theatre of Dreams undefeated.
It could not have been a more daunting proposition for West Ham as they kicked-off in front of 75,927 fans at Old Trafford. East End nerves were jangling when Wayne Rooney sent an early screamer inches over, while Yossi Benayoun's double goal-line clearance from Alan Smith and Kieran Richardson also made for an uneasy opening.
Meanwhile, across the Pennines, Paul Scharner's opener for Wigan had plunged Sheffield United into the drop-zone before Jon Stead's equalising header put the Latics back in deep trouble.
Events at Bramall Lane, however, were quickly overtaken when Bobby Zamora nodded on Robert Green's huge drop-kick before playing a neat one-two with Carlos Tevez, who sneaked between his international team-mate Gabriel Heinze and Wes Brown to slot in his seventh goal of the season, on the stroke of half-time.
As well as stunning the Theatre of Dreams into near silence, Tevez's strike had even greater ramifications over in the Steel City, where Sheffield United's Phil Jagielka had handled, allowing ex-Hammer and former Blade David Unsworth to blast in from the penalty spot to send Wigan into an interval lead and ultimately send Sheffield United down.
Following a blank opening to the second period at Old Trafford, Sir Alex introduced Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Cristiano Ronaldo to set up a frantic finale that saw John O'Shea's penalty appeal waved away before Ronaldo's downward header was saved by the busy Robert Green.
With seconds remaining, the acrobatic Hammers goalkeeper palmed over Scholes' sizzler moments before referee Martin Atkinson called time and confirmed West Ham's greatest of Great Escapes!