HAMMERS and Bolton meet in cup competition this week for the eighth
time in their history, and the scores are completely even.
The previous seven encounters have thrown up three wins each and
one draw.
West Ham United however, lead the way in the League Cup with two
victories to one.
The most memorable encounter for both sets of fans was their first ever meeting, on April 28th 1923, at the Empire Stadium, Wembley. The Hammers had reached the FA Cup Final for the first time, but faced tough opponents in twice beaten finalist Bolton.
The match was the first ever Wembley Final, and remembered for the crowd trouble and a certain White Horse, but unfortunately West Ham were to go down in history as the first ever Wembley losers, falling behind after only a few minutes and suffering a 2-0 defeat.
The sides met regularly in the 20's and 30's and were drawn together in the FA Cup, in 1937, at Upton Park. Again the Lancashire outfit would have the better of West Ham - A goalless draw was followed by a 1-0 defeat away from home.
Meetings were then sparse until the 1990's, and the pair didn't play each other in the league from 1964 to 1980. During this period there were three cup games, in which the Hammers were victorious on every occasion.
In 1967, Geoff Hurst scored all four, in a 4-1 League Cup win. The World Cup hero was amongst the goals again when the sides met the next season, in round two of the same competition.
West Ham demolished the Trotters 7-2, with Hurst claiming a
hat-trick.
Martin Peters, John Sissons, Trevor Brooking and Harry Redknapp
were the other scorers.
In 1977 Billy Jennings and Geoff Pike both struck, to put West Ham through to the fourth round of the FA Cup, after a 2-1 Upton Park win.
Bolton did take the spoils most recently, with a 3-1 victory at the Boleyn Ground in 1994, and went all the way to Wembley again, where they were beaten by Liverpool -Tony Cottee scored the Hammers only goal.