West Ham United 1 – 0 Shrewsbury Town (after extra time)
Emirates FA Cup third round replay
Reece Burke hammered in an extra time winner to send West Ham United through to the Emirates FA Cup fourth round at Shrewsbury Town’s expense on Tuesday night.
The Hammers needed the additional 30 minutes to see off the challenge of a spirited Shrews side, who pushed them all the way over the course of three-and-a-half hours' football in Shropshire and east London.
Shrewsbury’s title challenge in League One has been based on a solid defence, and they showed exactly why they are pushing for a place in the Championship with a pair of disciplined performances.
It took 112 minutes of a tight game at London Stadium for the Hammers to make their class count, as Burke smashed a shot in off the crossbar after Toni Martinez forced the ball across to him.
Martinez was handed a first start in Hammers colours as the manager fielded a blend of young and experience which included Reece Oxford and Josh Cullen at one end of the scale, and Manuel Lanzini and Joe Hart at the other.
West Ham already knew how well drilled the Shrews would be from their first meeting nine days ago, and Paul Hurst’s side were equally impressive in the opening stages as they pressed and harried their hosts with purpose.
The hosts tried to get Manuel Lanzini on the ball to prise the Shrews defence apart and it was the midfielder who fired an early shot across their bows, aiming too high from outside the area inside the opening ten minutes.
Genuine chances were hard to come by, although Sam Byram and Cullen played a neat one-two to enter the box on 27 minutes before the returning right back poked wide of the mark.
Seven minutss before the interval Manuel Lanzini warmed Shrews keeper Dean Henderson’s palms with a fierctly-struck free-kick from range, but neither team could find a way through in the first 45.
Twelve minutes after the break, Lanzini drove into the Shrewsbury box and went down under a Aristote Nsiala challenge, but referee Jeremy Simpson wasn’t interested.
Shrewsbury were giving nothing away however, and had a massive chance to open the scoring themselves on 63 minutes when Oxford’s square pass was intercepted, giving Stefan Payne a clear run on goal.
Joe Hart was there to bail his teammate out, making himself big to divert the visiting striker’s shot away from danger.
David Moyes called for Marko Arnautovic and Mark Noble from the bench as the game entered its final quarter and the former was inches wide with a 20-yard shot three minutes from time.
Into the extra 30 minutes we went and Noble tried to break the deadlock when he lofted a header over Henderson after a half-cleared corner, but Ben Godfrey was there to clear off the line.
Henderson was beaten again just before the teams turned around in the additional period, but again he had a defender to help, this time James Bolton racing back to block Lanzini’s goalbound shot.
West Ham’s presence as an attacking force was growing and they finally broke through eight minutes from the end when the Shrews couldn’t get a corner clear, Martinez poked across goal and Burke hammered home via the crossbar to set up a fourth round tie at AFC Bournemouth or Wigan Athletic, who replay on Wednesday.
West Ham United: Hart (c), Byram (Zabaleta 90), Burke, Ogbonna, Oxford (Noble 69), Masuaku, Cullen, Obiang, Lanzini, Ayew (Arnautovic 69), Martinez
Subs: Adrian, Haksabanovic, Samuelsen, Makasi
Goal: Burke 112
Shrewsbury Town: Henderson, Riley (Dodds 74), Lowe (Bolton 101), Godfrey, Sadler, Beckles, Whalley (Rodman 78), Ogogo (c), Nolan, Nsiala, Payne (C.Morris 83)
Subs: MacGillivray, John-Lewis, B.Morris
Booked: Nolan, Nsiala
Referee: Jeremy Simpson
Attendance: 39,867