A late Craig Dawson header fired West Ham into the fourth round of the FA Cup, after a resilient display from National League high-flyers Stockport County.
Dawson headed home on 83 minutes from a Jarrod Bowen cross to prevent the Premier League side being a FA Cup scalp to lower opposition.
The Hammers reward for their victory at Edgeley Park is a home tie against League One Doncaster Rovers next after the draw for fourth and fifth rounds were held on Monday evening. If West Ham beat Doncaster then they will travel to either Manchester United or Liverpool in the fifth round.
For Stockport it’s the end of a promising Cup run, but they pushed their Premier League opponents all the way.
Going into Monday’s third-round tie, West Ham entered it off the back of an impressive 1-0 victory at Everton in the top flight. Meanwhile, Stockport came into it after a 2-2 draw with promotion rivals Altrincham.
West Ham manager David Moyes put out a strong team for the tie, showing respect to his lower-league opponents. After Sebastian Haller’s departure to Ajax, Michail Antonio returned to the side for his first start since recovering from his latest hamstring injury.
However, a boggy pitch and poor conditions troubled the Hammers as they struggled to create clear-cut chances.
A dominant first-half display from the away side saw only one chance of note, with Said Benrahma clipping the post early in the game after working an angle for a close-range shot.
After 15 minutes the game was stopped by a firework display outside the ground in a touching tribute to 15-year-old Khai Whitehead, who is currently in hospital after being hit by a police car in Stockport on Boxing Day.
When the game resumed Stockport defended immaculately, frustrating their opponents for much of it, but struggled to carve opportunities in front of goal for themselves.
Stockport failed to capitalise from set pieces after manager Jim Gannon highlighted in his pre-match interview how it was something they had worked on in training.
Unfortunately for the hosts it was West Ham who managed to capitalise from a set piece. A short corner was whipped into the box by Bowen for Dawson to power home from close range.
It took the Hammers 83 minutes to make a breakthrough delivering a devastating late blow to a Stockport side who would have hoped to hold on for extra-time after making it so far.
For Dawson the hot run of form continues with his first goal in Claret and Blue coupled with a third-straight clean sheet.
In injury time, Moyes handed a first-team debut to promising young striker Ademipo Odubeko who has been training with the squad after recently returning from injury.
Overall it was a frustrating game for West Ham who had to a remain patient against a solid Stockport, but ultimately they got the job done. For Stockport their attention now returns to winning promotion back into the Football League.
By Fraser Day
