Tomas Soucek snatches late winner for West Ham in Serbia
Get Miguel Delaney's Reading The Game Newsletter For Free In Your Inbox
Join Miguel Delaney's Weekly Newsletter For Free
Late again, Tomas Soucek made an impact and helped West Ham advance to the knock-out stages of the Europa League, despite a dull match against Backa Topola from Serbia.
The midfielder from Czech Republic has succeeded in scoring goals in his recent five games for both his club and country. He managed to score the winning goal in the 89th minute through an impressive volley, but it was not an easy win for his team.
They must complete the task by defeating Freiburg in the upcoming match at the London Stadium in two weeks' time. This will ensure that they secure the top spot in the group and avoid having to compete in a two-part play-off in February.
About 320 determined supporters of West Ham traveled approximately 2,000 miles to reach the Balkans. They even embarked on a 100-mile ride via the motorway from Belgrade to the TSC Arena.
A lot of people were happy because they finally got what they wanted: 19-year-old Divin Mubama starting in his first game of the season. This was because two of the regular forwards, Jarrod Bowen and Michail Antonio, were injured. Mubama had previously won the FA Youth Cup.
The home team entered the game having won 4-0 against the top team in the Super League, Partizan, during the previous weekend. They started the match with great confidence, with Uros Milovanovic attempting a shot that was saved by the goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski.
During the game, there was an error made by Aaron Cresswell, who was given the opportunity to start in the team. The team had made seven changes, following the previous win at Burnley, where Soucek scored a late goal. As a result of the error, Aleksandar Cirkovic was given the opportunity to shoot, but Fabianski was able to save the shot.
After 30 minutes, West Ham finally managed to take their first shot on goal. It wasn't very powerful and came from Said Benrahma, who was playing in his 150th game for West Ham. However, Veljko Ilic was able to stop it without too much trouble.
The initial 45 minutes of the match weren't very exciting and Joe Cole, a previous player, described it as "dull" and "terrible" during his commentary on TNT Sports.
Manager David Moyes made a substitution just over an hour into the game, switching out Benrahma and Mubama for Danny Ings and Maxwel Cornet who hadn't been seen much on the pitch. He did this in an attempt to bring some energy to his team, which was not playing convincingly.
As the match was about to end, Cornet made a cross from the left and Soucek hit a strong shot into the net, scoring the winning goal.
West Ham has had an exciting journey in Europe during the last three years, which includes their groundbreaking victory in the Europa Conference League final in Prague.
Even though this victory may not be particularly memorable, it marks the 18th win out of 20 matches in Europe for Moyes and his team, ultimately accomplishing their objective.
