Harewood strikes and Hammers ‘fulfil destiny’

Middlesbrough 0 West Ham 1

It secured the club’s first FA Cup final since 1980 in the week that saw the untimely passing of legendary Upton Park manager John Lyall.

Lyall, who died of a heart attack Wednesday, was the man who guided the East London club to their last major trophy with Cup Final victory over Arsenal 26 years ago.

This dour Villa Park encounter may not have produced the free-flowing football typified by Lyall’s West Ham teams but, with another of the club’s great managers, Ron Greenwood, also passing away earlier this year, current manager Pardew admitted that his players paid fitting tribute to both men by booking a cup final date against Liverpool in Cardiff next month.

Pardew said: “We have lost Ron and John this year and the one word I wrote on my notes before I spoke to the players before the game was ‘destiny.’ “Maybe this was our destiny and we have gone and done it. I’m so pleased for the families of Ron and John because they have lost very important people this year and we did this for them. For a promoted team, this is a fantastic achievement, but John and Ron may have grimaced at our first-half performance before we turned it around after half-time.”

This game meant everything to the London club and it showed as they made a nervous start, with Middlesbrough camped inside West Ham territory and carving out at least four clear goal-scoring chances within the first ten minutes.

Poor finishing, resolute defending and the awareness of goalkeeper Shaka Hislop kept West Ham in the game as Boro went in search of an early opener.

The probing of Fabio Rochemback and the desire and energy of George Boateng gave Boro the platform to dominate the first-half and in Stewart Downing, the left-winger, the Teessiders had the one player on the pitch who looked capable of turning the game in an instant.

Downing, impressing in front of the watching England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, tormented Anton Ferdinand down the left flank, but his best delivery came from a dead ball when his curling corner on 34 minutes picked out Franck Queudrue. However, six yards out and unmarked, the French defender directed his header over the bar.

West Ham did not trouble the Boro goal until four minutes before half-time, but it proved a crucial foray forward. Boro keeper Mark Schwarzer, jumping with striker Dean Ashton, came off worst in the collision and had to leave the field with a suspected fractured cheekbone.

With Schwarzer sidelined, West Ham upped their game after the break and it was their turn to dominate. Ashton headed against the bar and Nigel Reo-Coker aimed a curling strike wide of the far post as Boro were pushed back, but Steve McClaren’s team responded by going close through Downing.

Harewood finally made the breakthrough on 79 minutes, though, when Ashton’s head down from Ferdinand’s cross picked him out inside the area. Harewood turned and fired a left-foot strike into the near corner that left substitute goalkeeper Brad Jones helpless.

Boro manager McClaren said: “I always feared we would rue the chances we had because West Ham were always going to improve in the second half. I thought we had weathered the storm, but when the only defining moment of the game came, they took it.”

MIDDLESBROUGH: Schwarzer (Jones 42), Riggott, Southgate, Queudrue, Parnaby, Rochemback (Parlour 75), Boateng, Downing, Taylor (Maccarone 80), Hasselbaink, Yakubu.

WEST HAM: Hislop, Ferdinand, Gabbidon, Collins, Konchesky, Benayoun, Mullins, Reo-Coker, Etherington (Newton 89), Harewood, Ashton (Zamora 85).

Referee: M Riley (W Yorkshire).