West Ham smashed and grabbed their way towards major honours with victory over Fiorentina in Prague on Wednesday night.
Jarrod Bowen’s last minute goal was enough to seal the Europa Conference League final by a score of 2 – 1.
It’s West Ham’s first major trophy since winning the F.A Cup in 1980 and their third European triumph. West Ham previously won the Cup Winners Cup in 1965 and the Uefa Intertoto Cup in 1999.
It’s a redemption story for West Ham, who fought to avoid relegation in the Premier League this season. So too for David Moyes, who faced the prospect of getting sacked at times this year.
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The game played out as expected with Fiorentina dominating possession and West Ham remaining compact. Sofiane Amrobat and Giacomo Bonaventura ran the midfield while the Hammers struggled to retain the ball.
For all their possession, though, Fiorentina didn’t threaten the West Ham goal and the game was 0-0 at half time.
Against the run of play, the Hammers were awarded a penalty after an hour following a VAR review. Said Benrahma finished emphatically to give them the lead, but it would be short lived.
Fiorentina equalised five minutes later thanks to a moment of quality from Bonaventura. At that point, it looked as if the game might get away from David Moyes’ team. Fiorentina had dominated the ball all night and having finally scored, looked hungry for a second.
Despite taking more shots than in the first half, the Serie A team didn’t sustain enough attacking pressure. Paqueta, Bowen and Antonio began to grow into the game for the Hammers.
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Just as we were contemplating extra time, Paqueta released Bowen in the left half space. His deflected shot nestled in the back of the net to deliver a fairytale moment for West Ham.
The celebratory scenes afterwards were a perfect tonic to Manchester City’s relentless march towards trophies. The players were genuinely delighted. David Moyes, disregarded as a top-level manager, danced on the pitch in honour of the first trophy of his career.
