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Match ReportTuesday 19th September 2000
WORTHINGTON CUP 2ND ROUND
Bescott Stadium
Attendance:5,345
Referee: S Lodge WALSALL0 WEST HAM1Defoe 84WALKERBRIGHTWELLTILLSONBARRASARANALDEHALLKEATESBUKRANMATIASBYFIELDLEITAO Subs:EMBERSONCARTERBENNETTANGELL 85ROPER HISLOPLOMASFERDINANDS PEARCE SINCLAIRWINTERBURNCOLESTIMACKELLERCARRICKPOTTSSubs:FORRESTRIZADEFOE 77BYRNENEWTONJermaine Defoe scored a late and classy winner to give West Ham their first win of the season and repay the first installment of the £1.65million West Ham had to pay for him.
Defoe, who doesn't turn 18 until next month, somehow kept his footing on a treacherously surface to stab home a winner after coming as a substitute.
"It's a dream come true," exclaimed the London-born youngster afterwards. Team-mate Joe Cole said: "He won't sleep tonight with the excitement."
Defoe was spotted by West Ham as an outstanding schoolboy prospect at Charlton. The teenager agreed to move to Upton Park but The Hammers were ordered to pay compensation to their neighbours.
That money must have seemed well spent by manager Harry Redknapp at full-time. Defoe helped his side avoid slipping on a cup banana skin.
Slipping on a Bescot Stadium pitch beset by torrential rain was another matter.
West Ham, playing the lightweight strike partnership of Cole and Trevor Sinclair would have been happy with a goalless draw against the Second Division leaders.
True, West Ham thought they had gone ahead when Cole's trickery set up 36-year-old Nigel Winterburn to bundle in from close range. But Winterburn had to look in horror at referee Steve Lodge as the effort was ruled out, with the official claiming the ball was guided in with the hand.
But the second half was mostly Walsall. Spaniard Pedro Matias forced Shaka Hislop into an acrobatic leap across his goal to beat out a fierce cross-shot just before the interval. And the same player was clean through on the hour before a split-moments hesitation allowed Steve Potts to come back and make a fantastic block to divert the Walsall player's shot for a corner.