Don't leave us this way

The club did the right thing in not letting back in those fans who left when West Ham were 2-0 down against Leeds. I've never understood fans leaving a game early. Is beating the Stratford kettle really that important? This season more added time is being played than ever before. We had 11 minutes against Leeds to get back in the game and for once we did. Those goals were the reward for the loyal fans who stayed in their seats. 

There's a culture of leaving games early that makes the London Stadium less intimidating than it should be. Perhaps at three or four down it might be more understandable, but even when getting tonked you might see a consolation goal, something about a player's attitude that's encouraging or a bit of skill from the opposition. We pay enough for our ninety minutes plus - let's stay there for all of it like proper fans.

Penalty heartbreak for spirited Hammers

West Ham 2 Leeds United 2 (FA Cup) (Leeds win 4-2 on pens)

Inside the London Stadium we find Nigel and his lucky Stranglers plastic bag, CQ, Matt, Lisa, Big Sam (who successfully relegated Leeds three years ago) and Michael the Whovian, who is still recovering from the excitement of viewing the two missing episodes of The Daleks' Master Plan

One home game from Wembley, what could possibly go wrong? After the international break there's no Hermansen, Wan-Bissaka, Greek Bloke or Todibo, while Soucek is only on the bench, Summerville is not yet ready and Callum Wilson is also missing. Everyone is worried by the inclusion of Max Kilman, though perhaps he'll be better alongside Disasi.

After three minutes Areola has to make a good save to deny Okafor. Then Bowen gets in a great low cross and Perri has to make a brilliant low save from Taty's flick. Adama Traore shows his speed to power through midfield and pass to Bowen, who forces another decent save, with Traore failing to follow up.

But slowly Leeds start to look the better side, with Magassa and Potts struggling to contain their midfield and Walker-Peters being tormented by Okafor. Leeds take the lead when Tanaka twists and turns in the box and shoots against Disasi, the ball deflecting up and in off the crossbar. The 9000 Leeds fans celebrate wildly. 

Nigel goes early and eats his lucky banana while the Hammers are lucky not to concede a penalty when Potts can only play the ball towards Okafor and Kilman catches Stach after he's got his shot away.

At the break Nuno takes off Potts and Magassa for Soucek and Pablo and West Ham give it more of a go. Traore is breaking clear when he's cynically fouled by Ampadu, who gets a fully-deserved yellow card. Traore has switched to the left and gets in a great cross that Castellanos heads against the post when he should probably score. The home crowd ramp up the atmosphere.

But on 71 minutes Max Kilman makes a clumsy challenge and takes out Aaronson in the box. VAR correctly rules that it's a penalty. Sub Dominic Calvert-Lewin converts and it seems it's game over. Kilman is booed by his own fans when he next touches the ball which isn't going to help anyone. The Leeds fans chant about going to Wembley.

Some West Ham fans head for the exits. Leeds almost make it three but at least Traore is still sending over inviting crosses. Meanwhile Matt is perhaps in need of a wellness trip to San Francisco as he lambasts Nuno, Pablo, Taty, Kilman and cheating Leeds

But the announcement of 11 added minutes gives us some hope. Pablo heads over from Diouf's cross. Three minutes into added time the indefatigable Bowen turns inside to fire a great drive against the post and Fernandes is able to tuck home the rebound. Surely we can't come back?

AXEL ROSE

Two minutes later Traore gets another great cross in the box and there is Axel Disasi who does a karate kick on the ball to slide it home. Axel rose brilliantly. He celebrates like he's won the World Cup again, as the West Ham fans go effing mental. That goal is for the diehards who stayed. None of us ever doubted Nuno's team selection, much. Those who left early are not being allowed back in. "You're not singing anymore!" is chanted at the Leeds fans, no longer marching on together.

So it's extra time. Nigel makes the mistake or going to the gents and West Ham seem to score in the first minute. Perri fluffs his clearance and Taty Castellanos cleverly lobs it back into the net from a tight angle. Cure wild celebrations until sodding VAR rules that he was offside by a shoulder.

Gnonto skies a chance for Leeds before Bowen rattles the post with another great effort. Pablo nets the rebound but has drifted offside. There's still time in the first period for Traore to set up Diouf who slices his shot way wide.

On come Scarles and Kante. Legs are tired but Kante does well to power into the box to shoot wide and Pablo misses a half-chance. There's another sub-plot when Areola injures himself getting under Aaronson's cross. He's taken off and on comes 20-year-old Finlay Herrick, who has only ever played on loan at Boreham Wood. We wonder why Hermansen is not on the bench.

Luckily Herrick doesn't have to make any serious saves for his five minutes and then it's penalties. Incredibly Herrick saves the first penalty from Piroe and we're looking forward to tomorrow's headlines. But then a tired Jarrod Bowen takes a poor penalty that is saved by Perri. Walker-Peters and Soucek score for the Irons while Leeds net their next two although Herrick gets a hand to Gnonto's shot.

Matt has a very bad feeling about Pablo taking the fourth spot kick and is confirmed correct when Perri saves his tame effort. It's left to Struijk to send Leeds off to Wembley.

It's been a great cup tie for the cameras, though as Nigel remarks, losing and extra time is the worst possible result for the Hammers with a vital game coming up on Friday. We head off to the Eagle concentrating on the league. 

We conduct a straw poll of whether we're going down or not. Some think we're going down on goal difference. I'm one of the few to regard my glass of Guinness as half-full, as if we can beat Wolves then we still have a good chance of survival. Nigel gets out his mental computer and says we have to win at either Palace or Brentford. We then discuss the advantages of playing in the Championship, which includes a better chance of away tickets and going to Lincoln.

The biggest game of the week is still Wolves on Friday. Perhaps Leeds will become distracted by a trip to Wembley? We have to hope that Summerville is fit and Harmansen, the Greek Bloke, Todibo, Wilson and Wan-Bissaka are back for Wolves. But there's hope in the spirit we showed against Leeds. Traore had his best game for the club and Disasi was again immense. It's not over yet.

PLAYER RATINGS: Areola 6 (Herrick 7); Walker-Peters 5, Disasi 8, Kilman 4, Diouf 6 (Scarles 5); Potts 4 (Soucek 6), Magassa 4 (Pablo 4), Fernandes 6; Bowen 8, Castellanos 6 (Kante 6), Traore 8 (Mayers n/a).

Hey Micky! Antonio signing at the Newham Booksop

Michail Antonio will be signing copies of his new book Humans Not Robots at the Newham Bookshop, on Sunday May 31 from 2-4pm. We've seen Antonio play as a winger, an emergency right back, a midfielder and a striker during his time at West Ham and he's always been a real character as well as a handful up front. 

His goal celebrations were brilliant, including that Simpsons one where he lay down and tried to run in a circle on the ground, and of course his kissing of the plastic carpet at the London Stadium. It was brilliant to see him finally get a medal in Prague at the Europa Conference League Final.

Yet he also had his problems with mental health off the pitch and Humans Not Robots reveals the strains of being an elite sportsman. Michail's thankfully recovering after the car accident that nearly killed him and probably has a good career as a pundit and podcaster ahead of him. He'll always be welcome at West Ham. You can pre-order copies of his book from the Newham Bookshop via the link above.

Irons well beaten at Villa

Aston Villa 2 West Ham 0

This was always going to be the most difficult of West Ham's remaining fixtures away to a top four team, as at least the Arsenal game is at home. With Summerville unfit it's going to be tough and the Hammers are not helped by Todibo getting injured in the warm-up, meaning Potts starts and the five at the back plan is abandoned.

It's all Aston Villa, with Castellanos, Pablo and Bowen isolated up front. Dinos Mavropanos has a sensational half, making a goal-saving tackle, heading a corner away from under the bar, heading off the line again and making a crucial tackle that was initially awarded as a penalty. Hermamsen also makes a number of smart saves and we're lucky it's only one at the interval.

Villa's goal comes when they play a short free-kick rather than an inswinger. All West Ham's players are in the box and Sancho feeds McGinn, who curls home an excellent long-range curler. Nuno acts by bringing on Wilson and Traore at the break, as West Ham have not had a shot on target.

The game is over on 68 minutes when Bowen is dispossessed, Rogers outruns Soucek to send in a shot which Hermansen seems to catch but then drops, allowing Ollie Watkins to score a predator's goal. Diouf could also have reacted quicker.

So we now have two weeks to the FA Cup game against Leeds and three before the vital home game against Wolves. At least Spurs have lost 3-0 to Forest and are just one point ahead of WHU. We have to pray that Summerville is fit as without him there's a real lack of threat going forward. Apart from the Greek Bloke the side underperformed at Villa so we need to get back to the levels the side showed at Fulham. But let's remember Villa are a quality side with a quality manager. Games against Wolves and then Palace away present the Hammers with a chance to finally get ahead of tottering Spurs.

Easy for Arsenal at the Emirates

Arsenal 5 West Ham 0 (WSL)

It's a trip to the Emirates in the sun to see a tonking for West Ham in this one. Still, a nice atmosphere with a young crowd and the woman in front of us offering to share her sun cream. A few fans in West Ham shirts happily mingle with the home fans.

Letting Arsenal score after four minutes is the worst possible start with Chloe Kelly crossing for Blackstinius to get between the WHU centre backs to poke home. Irons keeper Szemek makes a number of fine saves to keep the score down in the rest of the half. In the concourse at half-time there's a brass band playing Karma Chameleon which is something you don't get in the men's game.

It's a nice change to be allowed to take a beer to our seats for the second half. Very quickly Holmberg crosses for Russo to head home. Chloe Kelly scores the third with a great long-range effort. There's a worrying 14-minute pause as West Ham's Eva Nystrom is treated and then carried off on a stretcher, after making a goal-saving tackle. Thankfully the injury isn't as bad as it looked.

After play is resumed West Ham try to play it out from the back and present Kelly with another goal. It seems a bit unfair of Arsenal to have endless England forwards. On comes Beth Mead who gets on the end of a flowing move to score the fifth. West Ham have tried hard but been outclassed.

Barring the result a good day out for £15 and with a crowd of 24,711 it shows West Ham are missing a trick by playing at Dagenham and not the London Stadium, because we're not allowed to by the landlords. Hopefully we can renegotiate or buy the stadium and put some proper money into the women's side.

Greek Bloke gifts Irons bonus point against City

West Ham 1 Manchester City 1 

Having been made an offer I couldn't refuse your correspondent was in Sicily for this one. It was certainly a tense evening waiting for phone updates while dining out on trofie pasta with local tomatoes and ricotta cheese, which is certainly one more trofie than Spurs will win. 

Watching the highlights the three centre backs played really well, while the Hammers also managed to overcome the loss of Crysencio Summerville. Nuno brings in an extra defender and plays Pablo to nullify Jimmy's loss, though with hindsight it now doesn't seem that wise to have brought Summerville on against Brentford.

City take the lead with what is surely a cross from Bernardo Silva, the ball looping up and over a flailing Hermansen. Credit to the Irons for an instant response. After winning a corner Donnarumma gets under the ball and the Greek Bloke raises like the colossus of Stratford to head in off the bar. A great moment for Dinos who is unrecognisable from the error-prone defender of last season. Semenyo misses a good chance and it's level at the break.

The second half sees relentless City pressure but West Ham defend superbly. A simple thing like the fact our defenders now celebrate tackles and clearances seems to have made all the difference. Hermansen makes a really good low save to defy Erling Haaland. The Greek Bloke thwarts Nunes with a saving tackle and then takes a Haaland shot full in the face to show his commitment. Hermansen tips a City free kick on to the bar and Guehi shoots over before West Ham earn a bonus point and move out of the bottom three for 24 hours.

Disasi and Todibo have also had fine games while Fernandes has battled well and Bowen has as ever chased everything. Nuno got his subs right too, with Magassa coming on after Pedro had completed his shift. No-one expected West Ham to get anything from this and we might also just have won the league for Arsenal.

On Match of the Day it's good to see Konstantinos Mavropanos, who might be related to the Greek Bloke, earn the praise of the pundits. The only expensive problem is that I might now have to go to Sicily for every game to bring us luck. With Spurs earning an annoying point at Liverpool and Forest and Leeds also drawing we're still right in the relegation fight. But that's now just two defeats in 12 games. Keep this up and we can do it.

Greek Bloke blasts West Ham into quarter-finals

West Ham 2 Brentford 2 (FA Cup, aet, West Ham win 5-3 on pens)

It's down to the diehards for this cup tie. With Matt and Lisa in Amsterdam wondering if this could be anywhere, Liverpool or Rome and Michael also AWOL, it's just Nigel and myself, plus Big Sam, who has travelled up by coach from Cardiff and his mate Jake the vlogger.

Both teams play strong sides, though for WHU Hermansen, Todibo and Diouf are out of the squad, while Summerville and AWB start on the bench. Pablo returns and does a decent job linking up play although he's not a natural goalscorer.

Early on Brentford's Henderson fires a good chance over and then Areola has to make a fine save to deny Kayode. But it's the Irons who take the lead after 19 minutes. Fernandes whips in a cross after a corner is cleared. Soucek does really well to get between two defenders and head a fridge, leaving Bowen to fire home from close range.

Things are a little worrying at the back though as Scarles can't contain the impressive Ouattara. It's from Ouattara's cross that Collins heads towards goal and the ball nicks off Thiago to beat Areola, who should have done better. A VAR appeal for handball is cleared.

It's an entertaining game between similar sides and without the tension of league points at stake. The crowd of 48,000 fans is again noisy as we get behind the side, unlike the fans of certain north London neighbours. 

Kante is having an energetic game in midfield. Traore has already had one good run before shooting wide. The muscular winger is then brought down in the box by Kayode. After a long wait for Godot the VAR sign eventually goes up and after review the ref suggests Jarrod Bowen strokes home a penalty. 

West Ham survive a VAR check on Scarles' challenge in the box and Ollie also heads off the line. At the other end Soucek again heads a fridge and Kelleher does really well to save from the diving Czech.

So it's 2-1 at the break. Scarles is replaced by the more tenacious Ezra Mayers and Adama Traore leaves to man the doors at a West End nightclub, being replaced by Jimmy Summerville. West Ham have chances. Summerville has a shot deflected over after a mazy dribble and Bowen shoots into Kelleher from out wide. Magassa replaces Kante but has a bit of a 'mare, prompting Matt in Amsterdam to turn the air claret and blue. Brentford bring on 1960s folk singer Donovan and hurl endless long throws into the box.

The equaliser comes when Ouattara gets in a cross and Summerville nudges Kayode in the back. Thiago duly scores the penalty. "Just when I was starting to think of the next round," muses Nigel. Lewis-Potter's cross whizzes across the box late on as it ends 2-2 and we need to regroup. 

Big Sam watches the latter proceedings in just his Prague WHU shirt, prompting thoughts he might have Geordie blood, while Nigel makes a bold decision in extra-time, eating his lucky banana. Strangely Jake's vlog misses this crucial intervention. 

Extra time goes very quickly. Callum Wilson forces a great save with his first touch. Donovan fires over for the Bus Stop From Hounslow and Taty has an effort deflected over. Summerville is limping after a heavy clash which is worrying.

WE'VE GOT DINOS MAVROPANOS!

At the very end Disasi thunders a shot just over. He seems to be enjoying playing for the Irons and has transformed our season. It's also good to see him celebrate a tackle that prevents a late Bees goal.

So it's penalties. Bowen and Taty score with ease, while Brentford's Ouattara takes just about the worst Panenka ever, chipping the ball into Areola's hands like a dad playing with his toddler in the park. Wilson and Soucek also score with high and powerful pens as it's 4-3. So who will take the final penalty to win it?

"It's the Greek Bloke!" hollers Big Sam. We know that Dinos will never let us down. The Greek Bloke shows character to take the responsibility and blasts the ball into the top-right hand corner to spark a team mobbing and Bubbles on the tannoy. So it's Leeds in the next round and we're one game from a Wembley semi-final. 

Sam leaves to catch the 11.30pm coach back to Cardiff, arriving home 24 hours after leaving before starting work four hours later. Luxury. There's dancing in the streets of Amsterdam. Nigel and myself have a swift pint at Fabwick in Hackney Wick, which is furnished like a bohemian front room, reflecting that although we don't really need a cup run while fighting for survival winning has to be good for morale. We're two games from the final and this team is starting to show real spirit. Irons!

PLAYER RATINGS: Areola 6; Walker-Peters 6 (Wan-Bissaka 6); Disasi 7, Mavropanos 8, Scarles 5 (Mayers 6); Soucek 8, Fernandes 7 (Wilson 6), Kante 7 (Magassa 4); Bowen 8, Pablo 6 (Castellanos 6), Traore 7 (Summerville 7).