Sheffield Wednesday - 2 West Ham - 4: Alan Pardew should be a very happy manager this morning. On this evidence, West Ham's renaissance is anything but superficial. A visiting XI staffed almost entirely by understudies treated Hillsborough to some eye-catchingly assured football.
Having spent much of the evening sashaying confidently towards the third round, West Ham relaxed prematurely and saw Wednesday score twice before substitute David Bellion's late goal.
Barely a minute had elapsed when West Ham took the lead. Latching on to a pass from Gavin Williams, Bobby Zamora found himself one-on-one against David Lucas but it proved an unequal contest.
Wednesday hardly looked Championship calibre and were without Adam Proudlock who, before Monday's sacking, had been one of their better players.
A slight lapse in an otherwise elegant approach on the part of Christian Dailly brought him a booking for a clumsy tackle on Barry Corr, but the Hammers rarely looked hassled. True, Chris Brunt volleyed over the bar and Shaka Hislop made a couple of decent saves from David Graham, but Sturrock's men were repeatedly betrayed by the poverty of their final ball.
With the sub-15,000 crowd leaving this splendid old ground studded with empty blue seats, the atmosphere was less than electric. Wednesdayite gloom was further exacerbated when Dailly scored West Ham's second, his diving header whipping past Lucas from Newton's corner.
Refusing to be upstaged, Zamora registered his second with an exquisite, dipping volley before Wednesday belatedly stirred with Graham Coughlan heading their first before Graham's strike precipitated a tense finale which featured the striker directing a shot against the bar before Bellion's twisting run and curving, conclusive, shot.
SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY (4-4-2): Lucas; Ross, Coughlan, Wood, Bullen; McGovern (Hills 82), Rocastle, Whelan (O'Brien 69), Brunt; Corr (Peacock 69), Graham. Subs not used: Adamson, Lee, Hills.
WEST HAM (4-1-3-2): Hislop; Repka (Ephraim 87), Collins, Ward, Cohen; Dailly; Newton, Noble, Williams (Stokes 87); Zamora, Harewood (Bellion 65). Subs not used: Reed, Mullins.
Referee: S Tannerwords.
Guardian Service
