Jarrod Bowen's on fire as Irons see off Leeds

West Ham 2 Leeds United 0 (FA Cup)

Legacy fans Matt, Lisa and Nigel have been to the Best Cafe, joining Fraser and myself in the London Stadium for the first home game of the New Year. Matt's been checking out the brilliantly-named Moaners Corner Cafe at Woking's stadium, while Nigel, who has eaten his lucky banana before the game, is reminiscing about Downtown Records in Brentwood High Street and his forays into the vinyl shop in Felixtowe. Michael is AWOL writing this week's play.

Some 8000 noisy Leeds fan are present singing not very original ditties such as, "You sold you soul for this shithole!" and "Is this a library?" Credit to the club though for making it Kids for a Quid, resulting in a very respectable 54,303 attendance.

Leeds are fielding three debutants and the Irons make early inroads against a youthful side. After good work by Rice on the left Bowen has an effort cleared off the line and Antonio has a shot deflected on to the roof of the net.

AIN'T NOBODY LIKE LANZINI

The Hammers take the lead after 34 minutes. Antonio finds Vlasic, who uses his upper body strength to roll his defender and aim to shoot. Hjedle manages to block his shot but in the ensuing melee Lanzini shoots home. After a lengthy VAR pause for a possible offside the goal is given. That's Manuel's sixth of the season - he seems to be finally getting back to the level he was at under Bilic and early Moyes. 

It's almost two before the break as Fredericks plays a great one-two with Bowen only to shoot at the keeper. The second half sees a strong start from the Hammers, Vlasic, who is looking much sharper, makes another great turn and is brought down on the edge of the box. The free-kick goes into the wall.

Antonio bounces away several Leeds defenders to set up Bowen, only for Meslier to save with his feet, then Vlasic sets up Rice who blazes over. But 1-0 is a dangerous score and with Raphina on Leeds start to threaten as Harrison misses a good opportunity from Klich's cross.

Late on Fredericks makes a great interception but instead of pulling back to the unmarked Bowen or Rice fires wastefully wide. King Arthur comes on and misplaces his first pass, much to the displeasure of the Vicar's Son. With three minutes left James then miskicks at another great chance for Leeds. 

JARROD MARCH

In added time Meslier comes up for a Leeds corner and we fear the worst. But after a couple of crosses are cleared sub Fornals turns to play a superb ball out to Antonio on the right wing. Michail waits just long enough to release Jarrod Bowen, who is of course on fire, and slots past Meslier before giving a knee slide to the Bobby Moore Stand. All that running through potato fields is paying off and Jarrod must be close to an England call-up.

In one final bizarre cameo sub Yarmolenko gets all of 20 seconds on the pitch. The only bad news is that Sours have pulled off a giantkilling act by coming from behind to beat mighty Morecambe.

We head to the Black Bull, which only takes cash. Luckily Fraser still adheres to the Arthur Daley-school of carrying a wad of rolled-up bank notes and obliges with a round. There are big cheers when Kidderminster draw the Hammers in the next round. What could possibly go wrong? 

We sink some very palatable pints of Titanic porter and discuss bands named after a person who carried on even after that person left, such as Manfred Mann, and then move on to bands where the drummer sang. Which is better than discussing Savio, who also pops up and inspires a Wikipedia search of his lost career. 

An enjoyable afternoon and we move on to the next round. Home games against Norwich and Leeds again this week could now shape our season. Irons! 

PLAYER RATINGS: Areola 6; Fredericks 6, Dawson 6, Diop 6, Johnson 6; Rice 7, Soucek 6, Lanzini 7 (Fornals 7), Vlasic 7 (Masuaku n/a), Bowen 8; Antonio 7 (Yarmolenko n/a).