Somehow, West Ham slithered out of this barnstorming FA Cup tie with a spot in the fifth round. After Declan Rice, who was sent on by David Moyes at half-time to bring some order to an abject performance, struck in second-half stoppage time to take the game to extra time, Jarrod Bowen prevented penalties after snaffling a winner with 13 seconds left on the clock. Moyes, hands in pockets, was unmoved.
The Kidderminster manager, Russell Penn, could only pull his snood over his face, while his assistant, Jimmy O’Connor, swivelled on the touchline in disbelief. West Ham got out of jail to avoid an embarrassing exit and burst sixth-tier Kidderminster’s bubble, after Alex Penny had sparked delirium by opening the scoring.
For Kidderminster, an extraordinary journey that began against Sporting Khalsa in the second qualifying round and took in a third qualifying round replay against Ware came to an agonising finish, having outlasted Arsenal, Manchester United and Newcastle. They will resume their National League North promotion push and on Tuesday face a Worcestershire Senior Cup semi-final, though those that pushed West Ham all the way will get a breather, with this their ninth game in 28 days.
“I thought we’d get blown away in extra time, but we didn’t,” Penn said. “I’m gutted for the lads. They’re crawling around in the dressing room.
“They were piling the pressure on, but it was just unfortunate that they scored from the last phase of the game. We should take great heart from this and hopefully use it as a catalyst to push on.”
A couple of minutes before half time a punch-drunk Kidderminster fan gave the chairman, Richard Lane, who was stood behind the directors’ box taking everything in, a whopping kiss on the cheek. Seats were at a premium – tickets sold out within hours of going on sale – and after Saïd Benrahma ballooned a wayward shot into the North Stand terrace, fans smelled a historic victory.
West Ham had done their homework – one of Stuart Pearce or Alan Irvine attended Kidderminster’s previous four games – but the first-half performance was laboured, disjointed and a pale imitation of the kind that has taken the visitors to fifth in the Premier League, 113 places above the hosts in the pyramid.
Kidderminster instantly made their presence felt and Sam Austin forced Alphonse Areola, the on-loan Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper, to parry an early shot after a poor clearance by Ryan Fredericks, one of eight West Ham players promoted to the starting lineup.
Areola, Bowen and Kurt Zouma kept their places but aside from Michail Antonio, who landed in London on Friday after international duty with Jamaica, a full-strength West Ham squad arrived in Worcestershire.
But Moyes had to dip into his rich reserves sooner than planned. Rice was influential after entering at the break and with two minutes of stoppage time to play and Kidderminster close to an almighty upset, he took matters into his own hands, driving forward from halfway to source an equaliser.
He played a one-two with Pablo Fornals, another substitute, cut inside Matt Preston, who otherwise had a faultless game in the Kidderminster defence, and smashed into the roof of the net.
“He is maturing as a player,” Moyes said. “Declan made a difference. He is having a bigger influence, a bigger impact. It is why I have said he is a special edition. We see him in that light.”
The selfless Amari Morgan-Smith proved too sleek for Issa Diop early on and moments after Omari Sterling-James snatched the ball from a dawdling Andriy Yarmolenko on halfway, the West Ham defender, who was replaced by Craig Dawson at half-time, conceded a foul. Sterling sent in the subsequent free-kick and Areola and Diop inadvertently collided after both attempting to beat Nathan Cameron to the ball. Diop’s headed clearance dropped kindly for the right-back Penny, who side-footed into an empty net. Cue pandemonium in the stands and on the touchline.
Kidderminster were understandably deflated when Rice levelled but did not roll over. Caleb Richards intervened just as it seemed Bowen would prod home but West Ham, who had a goal disallowed for offside with 110 minutes on the clock, ratcheted up the pressure and, much to Kidderminster’s pain, they still had a cruel winner left in the tank.
Yarmolenko’s shot pinballed in the box and dropped at the back post, where the substitute Aaron Cresswell squared for Bowen.
“It will be that one where the players say: ‘How close were we?’” Penn said. “It was a huge honour for me to be managing across from David Moyes. He said some lovely words. He said: ‘Well done, we didn’t deserve it.’”
