Blackburn Rovers 1-5 West Ham United

Two goals from Dimitri Payet and Emmanuel Emenike helped fire the Hammers through to the Emirates FA Cup sixth round

Emmanuel Emenike netted an impressive brace on his full debut for West Ham United while Dimitri Payet also scored two goals as they helped the Hammers book their place in the Emirates FA Cup Quarter Finals with an emphatic 5-1 victory over Blackburn.


Emenike wasted no time settling into his new surroundings with a superb performance and showed why he is rated so highly with two goals in his first full start for the club.


Payet also stole the show with a superb curling free-kick from the edge of the box before producing a clinical finish right at the end to send the Hammers into the hat for the last eight of the competition.


It was not all one-way traffic as Blackburn opened the scoring on 20 minutes with a goal from Ben Marshall.


But Slaven Bilic's side showed their fighting qualities once again as they hit back straight away with an equaliser from Victor Moses.


Payet then showed his quality with another sublime free-kick before new signing Emenike secured the victory with two goals in the second half. Payet completed the rout with a superb finish in injury time.


Both teams were reduced to ten-men after Chris Taylor was sent-off for Blackburn, while Cheikhou Kouyate was also shown his marching orders.


But the Hammers were left to celebrate another impressive victory and are now just ninety minutes away from playing at Wembley Stadium in the semi-finals.


West Ham had to come from behind after Marshall fired Blackburn into the lead on 20 minutes.


Michail Antonio cleared a corner straight into the path of Marshall on the edge of the box and he cut the ball onto his left before firing a low shot Darren Randolph into the bottom corner of the net.


The lead was short-lived as the Hammers drew level on 26 minutes. Moses ran unchallenged into the Blackburn half before striking the ball across Blackburn keeper Jason Steele and into the back of the net.


The Hammers quickly doubled their lead in spectacular fashion on 36 minutes after Taylor brought down Payet on the edge of the box and was booked for his late challenge.


The French star showed his quality once again by curling a superb right-foot free-kick over the Blackburn wall and past the outstretched hand of Steele.


Payet celebrated in style by running along the touchline and hugging his manager Slaven Bilic before celebrating his first FA Cup goal with the 7200 Hammers fans behind the goal.


Blackburn were reduced to ten-men on 55 minutes after Taylor was shown his second yellow card of the game following a late challenge on Moses.


The Hammers thought they had made it three on 63 minutes after Antonio saw his shot kept out by Steele. The rebound fell to Kouyate who slid the ball into the back of the net but his effort was ruled out for offside.


The Hammers made no mistake sixty seconds when they added a third.


Antonio's shot was kept out by Steele. The rebound was picked out by Moses who released Kouyate into the box and his cross was tapped home by Emineke who produced a simple finish from close-range.


Kouyate was then shown a straight red card on 76 minutes as he clipped Adam Henley who raced clear towards the penalty box.


But the Hammers refused to sit on their lead and could have made it four on 77 minutes following a great piece of one-touch play from the Hammers involving Payet, Creswell, Song and substitute Lanzini who just fired over from close-range.


The Hammers were still searching for a fourth goal and Moses saw his shot cleared off the line by Shane Duffy on 82 minutes.


But it was all over when Emenike added his second of the game on 85 minutes.


Payet played the perfect through ball for the Nigerian forward who showed a great piece of skill to take the ball around Steele and he slotted the ball into the back of the net.


It was a superb full debut from Emenike and he was denied a memorable hat-trick when he was clean through on goal two minutes later but saw his shot strike the post.


Payet completed the rout when he made it five in injury time with a superb finish from the edge of the box.


It was a day to remember for the seven thousand West Ham United fans who made the long trip up from London and showed magnificent support once again. They will now be dreaming of going all the way in the FA Cup this season.


Blackburn Rovers: Steele; Marshall, Duffy, Ward (c), Henley; Bennett, Lenihan, Akpan, Taylor, Conway (Jackson 58mins); Brown (Watt 77mins)


Subs not used: Raya, Kilgallon, Hanley,, J Gómez, Evans


Bookings: Taylor, Lenihan


Red Card: Taylor


West Ham United: Randolph; Antonio, Collins, Ogbonna (Oxford 78mins), Cresswell; Noble (c) (Song 72mins), Kouyate, Obiang (Lanzini 66mins); Moses, Emenike, Payet


Subs not used: Adrian, Henry, Parfitt-Williams, Browne


Red Card: Kouyate


Referee: Jonathan Moss