West Ham were struggling at home against a team from the second division!

West Ham failed to win their FA Cup third round match, drawing 1-1 at home to second division Bristol and will have to play an away rematch. Jarrod Bowen scored the only goal for the Hammers.

West Ham started the FA Cup third round match very actively and quickly took the lead. Jarrod Bowen scored after a Lucas Paqueta centre. In the 13th minute, it could have been two goals, but Spanish midfielder Pablo Fornals hit only the goalkeeper in a false chance.

A black ten minutes for West Ham, many chances wasted

A black ten minutes for the Hammers followed. First, Paquetá had to be substituted due to a renewed injury, Vladimir Coufal took three hard shots and had to be treated twice. But he was able to continue playing, unlike the Brazilian.

A nice team action in the 26th minute could have been finished by Tomáš Souček on the small whitewash, but defender Cameron Pring sent the ball to the corner. Eight minutes later, James Ward-Prowse tested the Bristol goalkeeper, but the English direct-kick champion could not celebrate this time.

A header from the visiting Robert Hickie closed the first half, but after a corner kick it was only headed into the middle of Lukasz Fabianski’s goal.

The unexpected pressure paid off

After the change of sides, Bristol jumped in more actively, the Hammers not stopping in defence. In the 57th minute, a centre from the right side flew across the whitewash, but Pring missed the target from just inside the box.

Four minutes later, the away side were celebrating. Tommy Conway sent the ball into the bottom right corner of the net from just outside the box.

Kurt Zouma could have reacted at the other end, but his header after a corner kick went over. Otherwise, West Ham were pulling out the stops in the second half, but ironically it was the visitors who went for the decision and even scored the second goal from an offside position.

In the 85th minute Danny Ings had the decision on his feet, but from a small area he only hit the side netting in a messy situation. The end of the game was even and the match will probably deservedly go to the rematch on the field of the paper underdog.

Source: FA Cup, Nova Sport 3