ENGLISH LEAGUE CUP FOURTH ROUND:West Ham Utd 3 Stoke City 1
WEST HAM’S substitutes came to Avram Grant’s rescue last night as they helped seal a place in the quarter-finals with an extra-time victory over Stoke.
The Potters looked set to pile the pressure on Hammers boss Grant after the home side missed several chances to cancel out Kenwyne Jones’s early opener at Upton Park.
Scott Parker equalised with six minutes of normal time remaining before Manuel Da Costa and substitute Victor Obinna completed the turnaround.
Stoke took the lead after six minutes, Jones rising to power home Jermaine Pennant’s corner. West Ham should have levelled in the 54th minute when Asmir Begovic flapped at Pablo Barrera’s corner and James Tomkins put a diving header just wide.
Cole appealed in vain for an 81st-minute penalty after a coming together with Robert Huth, but it mattered not as Parker equalised six minutes from time, nodding home Barrera’s inswinging cross to send the game into extra-time.
And West Ham completed the turnaround six minutes into the extra period thanks to Da Costa’s goal, set up by brilliant work from Mark Noble before Obinna sealed it with two minutes to go.
WEST HAM UTD:Stech, Faubert, Tomkins, da Costa, Ben-Haim, Barrera, Parker, Kovac (Obinna 64), Boa Morte (Behrami 72), McCarthy (Noble 72), Cole. Subs not used: Green, Reid, Ilunga, Nouble. Booked: Ben-Haim. Goals: Parker 84, da Costa 96, Obinna 118.
STOKE CITY:Begovic, Huth, Wilkinson, Shawcross, Higginbotham, Pennant (Pugh 55), Whitehead, Whelan, Sanli (Delap 77), Walters, Jones (Gudjohnsen 58). Subs not used: Nash, Soares, Tonge, Faye. Goal: Jones 6. Attendance: 25,304
Referee:Howard Webb (S Yorkshire).
