In the Best Cafe Nigel and CQ have arrived early and been served kebabs, but for Matt, Lisa and myself it's a battle against understaffing and no hot drinks on offer. Matt and Lisa opt for chips in the absence of Halloumi mushrooms, while I go for the falafel. After a lengthy wait we head to the London Stadium in a storm, accompanied by Big Sam, who is wearing just a replica Prague final shirt as he is possibly the hardest (and coldest) man in football fandom.
We just make the kick-off, but experience a sold-out programme disaster. Our party is joined by Michael the Bard of Stratford, who has possibly been detained in a room full of bad people, or at least political satirists, while Fraser is watching in Romford on a very expensive Now TV feed.
The crowd are up for another impossible comeback telling Bayer that we know what we are. The Hammers start off with real intensity. Fabianski has to parry an early shot from Tella, but the rest of the first half is all West Ham.The Irons take a 13th minute lead when the returning Bowen whips in a fine cross, with Antonio beating defender and pink-clad keeper Kovar to head home and spark pandemonium.
The side is everything it wasn't against Fulham. Ward-Prowse has his best game in ages, playing further forward and snapping at the Bayer midfield. Kudus is causing the Germans real problems with his dribbling, Alvarez is back to his best mopping up loose balls and Antonio is so worrying the Bayer defence that the already booked centre back Kossounou is hauled off after 29 minutes. Leverkusen look rattled and repeatedly pass into touch or to claret and blue shirts.
WE KNOW WHAT WE ARE
West Ham's best chance of levelling the tie comes when Kudus does really well to whip the ball in from the left and Bowen volleys against Kovar's leg. Bowen plays in another lovely cross that Antonio misses by a bootlace. Leverkusen are getting battered even if Antonio is getting nothing from ref Martinez. Billy McKinlay is red carded on the bench and a melee erupts among the payers as the ref loses control.
Bayer are definitely pleased to get to half-time only a goal down. Nigel eats a lucky star biscuit but elects to save his lucky banana for later, while CQ unpacks a veritable orchard of apples from her bag. We're joined by Steve the Cornish Postie, who is delivering himself back to Cornwall later by the night train.
We figure Leverkusen will improve in the second half and they do after bringing on subs Frimpong and Boniface. West Ham's best chance comes from Bowen pouncing on a defensive mistake and crossing across the six-yard line only for the other forwards to arrive just too late. There's a rousing chorus of "You're not fit to referee!" as the ref makes a series of bizarre decisions. Carolyn hands out lucky liquorice, which proves it takes all sorts.
But Bayer are exerting more control on the game and Frimpong forces a decent save from Fabianski. It looks ominous when Frimpong gets behind the defence in na one-on-one only to fire wildly over the bar when he could have squared it.
Just as it looks like West Ham will at least become the first team to beat Leverkusen this season Frimpong gets in the box in the 89th minute and despite being surrounded by defenders gets in a shot that takes a hefty deflection off Cresswell to nestle past Fabianski. He's clearly relieved as he runs to the bench and the red and white army bounce up and down in the away end.
It's cruel but the fans respond in the right way with a rousing chorus of Bubbles. Sub Ben Johnson has a decent shot wide in added time, so it ends 1-1 and we're out of Europe. But it's a performance to be proud of and the fans rise to applaud the team off. The players have given everything, though again we've lost to a team with a bigger squad.
Nigel and CQ head off to east of Ipswich, while the rest of us yomp in the rain to the Eagle, though Matt has forgotten his waterproofs, compass and survival bag.
There's only Guinness or Newcastle Brown on offer, but at least Matt gets to reminisce about his latest trip to see Frenford FC play in the Essex Senior League, where the keeper was sent off for handling outside the area. This produces a stream of consciousness as we recall Adrian once going up for a corner and getting sent off for an ill-advised high kick.
Oh well. We've enjoyed our three years in Europe, which is a credit to Moyes, though to again qualify we're going to need to get a lot of points from a difficult final five games. Paqueta and Emerson will be back at Palace and now we have to give it everything in the league. Irons!
PLAYER RATINGS: Fabianski 7; Coufal 7 (Johnson n/a), Zouma 7, Aguerd 6 (Ogbonna 6), Cresswell 6; Soucek 7, Ward-Prowse 7, Alvarez 7 (Cornet n/a); Kudus 8, Antonio 8, Bowen 8.
1 comment:
How will you cope with no European trophy to chase next year? You were just getting use to it.
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