Tommy Conway nets winner as Bristol City dump West Ham out of FA Cup
Bristol City’s Tommy Conway rounds West Ham goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski after scoring his side’s FA Cup winner (David Davies/PA)
Bristol City produced an FA Cup upset as 10-man West Ham were beaten 1-0 in a third-round replay at Ashton Gate.
Tommy Conway’s equaliser at the London Stadium nine days earlier had set up this return tie and the 21-year-old striker was the Robins’ hero again as his early goal proved the difference.
West Ham, sixth in the Premier League, suffered further misery as Said Benrahma was sent off after 51 minutes for reacting stupidly to a strong challenge from Joe Williams.
Bristol City, 14th in the Sky Bet Championship, will again meet top-flight opposition in the fourth round should Nottingham Forest successfully negotiate their replay at Blackpool on Wednesday.
West Ham boss David Moyes was short on attacking options with Jarrod Bowen, Lucas Paqueta and Michail Antonio injured and Ghana’s Mohammed Kudus away at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Danny Ings, strongly linked with a move to Wolves this January, started for the first time since November alongside Benrahma and Maxwel Cornet.
West Ham were down on numbers and three current academy players occupied a bench one short of taking up its full allocation of nine substitutes.
Bristol City began with nine of the side that started the 1-1 draw in East London and Conway was on the scoresheet again inside three minutes after West Ham had wasted a golden opening – Cornet overhitting a pass with Ings clean through.
The action immediately switched to the other end where Konstantinos Mavropanos’ mistake allowed Conway to round Lukasz Fabianski and make light of a tight angle by rolling the ball home.
Anis Mehmeti sent a 20-yard effort over but the Hammers
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