West Bromwich Albion cruised into the FA Cup Sixth Round with a comfortable 4-0 win at The Hawthorns as Brown Ideye’s purple patch continued.
The Nigeria international, who had bagged in his last two Premier League games, nabbed a poacher-like brace, while solo strikes for James Morrison and Saido Berahino worsened ten-man West Ham United’s woes.
West Brom 4-0 West Ham
FA Cup Fifth Round
The Hawthorns
Saturday 14 February 2015
Winning side receives £180,000
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On a day to forget in the West Midlands for the Hammers, second-half substitute Morgan Amalfitano only last ten minutes after being given his marching orders in the 70th minute for a petulant slap on Baggies skipper Chris Brunt.
For Tony Pulis’ in-form Albion, this result confirmed them a place in the last eight of the FA Cup for the first time since 2008.
From the moment Ideye tapped home the hosts’ 19th-minute opener, a West Brom win always looked likely.
Craig Gardner’s diagonal ball picked out Craig Dawson’s run down the right and he teed up the 26-year-old striker for a close-range tap in.
Morrison’s 42nd-minute goal was certainly the pick of the bunch. The Scotland international stepped inside to send a swerving 25-yard strike beyond the outstretched arm of Adrian and into the right corner.
Just moments before that stunner from Morrison, Gardner had fired a warning as Adrian saw the Brummie midfielder’s thumping effort from 30 yards rattle his crossbar.
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It would have always taken an almighty second-half turnaround for the Hammers to keep their Cup dreams alive but any hope was dashed in the 57th minute as Ideye completed his double.
Stephane Sessegnon kept Chris Brunt’s delivery from the left alive and his deflected cross looped up for Ideye to power home a header from six yards.
West Ham knew it would not be their day when Diafra Sakho had an effort cleared off the line in the 67th minute.
Aaron Cresswell’s ball from the left found the striker’s stooping header at the far post and, while the effort wriggled beyond Ben Foster, Gareth McAuley was on the line to clear.
The Baggies’ top scorer certainly wasn’t going to miss out on the act and England Under-21s star Berahino completed the rout in the 72nd minute.
With Amalfitano heading for an early shower, Berahino caught the Hammers napping to latch on to Gardner’s through-ball and drive home a low effort from the right.
It could have been even more as Pulis’ men continued to bombard the visitors’ goal right up until the final whistle.
The pick of the efforts came from substitute Callum McManaman whose curling effort from 20 yards shaved the outside of the left post.
West Bromwich Albion (4-4-2): 1 Ben Foster; 25 Craig Dawson, 23 Gareth McAuley, 6 Joleon Lescott, 11 Chris Brunt (C); 8 Craig Gardner, 7 James Morrison, 5 Claudio Yacob, 29 Stephane Sessegnon; 9 Brown Ideye, 18 Saido Berahino.
Substitutes: 19 Callum McManaman for Sessegnon 78. 4 Chris Baird for Ideye 86. 16 Christian Gamboa for Gardner 90.
Substitutes not used: 13 Boaz Myhill, 2 Andre Wisdom, 3 Jonas Olsson, 15 Sebastien Pocognoli.
Goals: Ideye 19, 57, Morrison 42, Berahino 72.
West Ham United (4-1-2-1-2): 13 Adrian; 18 Carl Jenkinson, 8 Cheikhou Kouyate, 5 James Tomkins, 3 Aaron Cresswell; 30 Alex Song; 4 Kevin Nolan (C), 16 Mark Noble; 11 Stewart Downing; 31 Enner Valencia, 15 Diafra Sakho.
Substitutes: 21 Morgan Amalfitano for Nolan 60. 24 Carlton Cole for Sakho 68, 17 Joey O’Brien for Song 68.
Substitutes not used: 22 Jussi Jaaskelainen, 20 Guy Demel, 25 Doneil Henry, 36 Elliot Lee.
Red card: Amalfitano.
Referee: Martin Atkinson.
