Conway forces replay for Bristol City after Bowen gives West Ham flying start | FA Cup

From mundane beginnings this became one of the weekend’s better Cup ties, although David Moyes will not see it that way. He had picked his strongest available side, giving the competition and Bristol City the respect they deserved, and when Jarrod Bowen scored early on he seemed likely to be rewarded by a serene afternoon. Little went right from there, though, and West Ham may count a heavy cost. Lucas Paquetá and Konstantinos Mavropanos left the scene with first-half injuries and, perhaps most worryingly of all, Bowen pulled up at the full-time whistle and needed helping away. By then, in a second period largely dominated by the Championship team, Tommy Conway’s well taken equaliser had ensured hostilities will be resumed at Ashton Gate later this month. It was the least City, 11th in the Championship, merited from a performance that grew markedly in bravery and confidence.

It took just over four minutes for Moyes’ commitment to bear some fruit. This had, to everyone’s credit, felt like a proper occasion from the off: London Stadium was almost full and that owed plenty to the presence of almost 9,000 enthusiastic away fans. West Ham began as if keen to do the job properly and it was no huge surprise when their early pressure brought an opener.

Nor was it a shock that Paquetá and Bowen were the players to expose City’s five-man back line. There seemed little immediate danger when Paquetá took possession 15 yards inside the opposition half, but a delicately lofted pass sent Bowen away. He had been played onside by the left wing-back, Cameron Pring, who could not salvage matters on the goalline after the striker had controlled neatly and slotted past Max O’Leary.

Sam Bell drew a save from Lukasz Fabianski after an enterprising right-sided run as City tried to respond. West Ham escaped damage but Moyes was soon to learn that sometimes, where team selection is concerned, you are damned whether you do or don’t. Paquetá had missed Tuesday’s stalemate against Brighton with a knee injury and, shortly after Bell’s salvo, pulled up near the left touchline. It was hard to gauge the problem’s severity but Paquetá is far too important to take chances with. The Brazilian hobbled away and Divin Mubama came on.

When Vladimir Coufal required treatment minutes later, West Ham risked counting an even greater cost. Eventually he continued and, in open play, events were still going their way. Pablo Fornals should have doubled the lead while Mubama was waiting to enter, running on to a Bowen cutback and allowing O’Leary to block when the keeper should have been given no chance. Before the half-hour a flowing move down the left resulted in Pring diverting a half-hit Bowen shot towards his own net, O’Leary getting in the way again.

City are four points shy of the second tier’s playoff spots and, along with eight or nine others, can feel they are a few tweaks from a crack at promotion. Until a New Year’s Day defeat to Millwall they had shown clear signs of pushing on under their highly rated head coach, Liam Manning, who was appointed in November and spent four years in charge of West Ham’s under-23s before the turn of the decade. They showed no lack of willingness to play in the home side’s half when possible, winning a series of set pieces and looking lively down the channels, but struggled to create further shooting chances before half-time.

By then West Ham could have scored again, O’Leary saving sharply to his right from James Ward-Prowse. But Moyes was given added cause for concern when Mavropanos fell heavily after a challenge with Conway and, after attempting to carry on, joined Paquetá on the sidelines.

A purposeful start to the second half by City was a reminder that the outcome remained in question. Fabianski dived to clear a dangerous Bell cross and Ward-Prowse took a yellow card in exchange for stopping Jason Knight galloping away down the right. Just before the hour Knight’s low cross evaded Conway and Anis Mehmeti before being blasted wide by Pring at the far post.

It was the Robins’ best chance by some distance and, at this point, West Ham were struggling to exit their own half. A goal was coming and Conway took it superbly, taking a cleverly half-volleyed Joe Williams pass in his stride before arrowing an accurate strike across Fabianski. An aimless, snatched ball into midfield by Emerson Palmieri had given City possession and summed up the hosts’ deterioration. The travelling support, noisy throughout, exploded into a mass of limbs.

This was a ding-dong now. Tomas Soucek nodded a presentable chance over when a jolted West Ham finally rediscovered some threat. Kurt Zouma also headed waywardly before Moyes, seeking the spark that might banish the inconvenience of a replay, rolled the dice with a triple change. One of the replacements, Danny Ings, shot wide from a glorious position after O’Leary had blocked from Mubama. West Ham simply did not do enough.