Wolves 1 West Ham 2: James Ward-Prowse scores straight from a corner as Hammers complete epic turnaround after VAR drama
JAMES WARD-PROWSE produced a stunning winner direct from a corner to cap an incredible West Ham fight back.
And that 83rd minute golf swing celebration can never have looked better on him for boss David Moyes.
The sullen travelling support looked ready to get on his back once more as they have so often done this season.
He could hardly have argued at such a reaction, at least not by the end of a first-half that saw his Hammers side given the run around.
And in the end his men only got out of Molineux with all three points after Max Kilman headed home nine minutes into time added on as the effort was disallowed for a controversial offside decision against Tawanda Chirewa.
Wolves boss Gary O'Neil was left furious by that decision after referee Tony Harrington stuck off the goal after consulting the pitch - side TV monitor.
But for Moyes this felt huge.
Behind in the main stand sat Steve Cooper, jobless after being sacked by Nottingham Forest just before Christmas.
His presence was no doubt innocent enough.
But with the West Ham manager’s future still unclear and his current contract ticking down to the end of the season, Cooper just being there would still have added an extra element of pressure to the Scot had his players not emerged from almost nowhere to win this.
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Indeed, Pablo Sarabia’s penalty opener was the least Wolves deserved after they took a complete hold on the game.
It came after Wolves took the Hammers by the throat, Sarabia and Tommy Doyle forcing Lukasz Fabianski into frantic action.
All the while Rayan Ait-Nouri was producing the startling display that suggested he has really always been a highly dangerous, right-sided attacker in hiding.
He was given a free role to raid at will and Moyes’ players just couldn’t handle him.
Midway through the first-half the 22-year-old set off on a rampaging 50-yard run and only a desperate challenge in the box by Kurt Zouma stopped him completing it in brilliant style.
Again, Ait-Nouri waltzed his way into the penalty area and this time the challenge from Emerson was just as desperate but also illegal.
It took VAR Tim Robinson three minutes to confirm that ref Harrington’s penalty decision was the right one but Sarabia stayed focused to convert off Fabianski’s left hand post.
Moyes had to act after that first-half run-around and Vladimir Coufal and Tomas Soucek were ditched in favour of Michail Antonio and Ben Johnson in an attempt to spark some sort of fire.
Not that things got any easier, Jarrod Bowen limped off ten minutes after the re-start looking in a lot of pain.
What looked like a hip injury didn’t bode well for the rest of the game, while he will now be a major concern ahead of Thursday’s Europa League quarter-final first leg with Xabi Alonso’s all-powerful Bayer Leverkusen.
Antonio’s arrival did finally provide the dynamism that had been so lacking as the 34-year-old began battering at a defence that had mainly been on cruise control.
In the 63rd minute Emerson looked to have made up for that earlier penalty challenge on Ait-Nouri.
But while his header beat Jose Sa, he hammered into Semedo getting to the ball and the strike was correctly disallowed.
Yet West Ham finally had their tails up and ten minutes later they were level, Kilman’s handball producing a spot-kick lifeline from Lucas Paqueta.
Then came Ward-Prowse’s outrageous winner, a corner-kick drifting high in the swirling wind before leaving goalkeeper Jose Sa wishing the free-kick specialist had just shanked his effort.
Still, Kilman thought he had claimed a deserved share the spoils but VAR this time gave Moyes a break - no matter how maddening it was for his opposite number.
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