Football story by Brian Watters, Mon, 24 Apr 2006 10:24:00 GMT


Marlon Harewood led West Ham to the final of the FA Cup with a sterling goal that saw the Hammers defeat Middlesbrough 1-0 yesterday. West Ham will now face Liverpool in the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff for the May 13 final.

The game began with a minute's silence for ex-West Ham boss John Lyall, who passed away earlier this week, but fans seemed to pay tribute to him by chanting his name. The emotion must have surely egged on West Ham as they came out all guns blazing. But Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink had an early chance, but the angle was too narrow for his header. Boro's wing-play caused a lot of problems for the Hammers, but the final punch seemed to be strangely lacking from their game.

Queudrue had the best chance in the first half when he tried to head in an inswinging Stewart Downing corner, but headed over. Boro dominated the first half despite losing Mark Schwarzer to an injury in the first half. After the break, both sides went all-out for the elusive goal, which fell the Hammers' way after Dean Ashton's knock down found Marlon Harewood in the 78th minute. Boro went on an all-out attack after the goal and Chris Riggot had a golden chance in the closing minutes, but could not balance himself and spewed the shot wide.

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West Ham boss Alan Pardew said his side was eager to pay tributes to Ron Greenwood and John Lyall, former West Ham managers, who passed away in this year, "We've done it and I'm pleased for the two families of Greenwood and Lyall - we did it for them," he said. "The important factor was not to change our shape, so we pushed our full-backs on.

You have to say the players won that by turning it around." Middlesbrough manager Steve McClaren said that the strike force lacked punch, "It was always going to be a close game. We dominated the first half. We rued the chances we missed. I thought we had weathered the storm but they took the one defining moment in the game," said McClaren.

Match Details
Referee: M Riley (W Yorkshire).

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).
Goals: Harewood 78.