West Ham 1, Manchester United 2: Slaven Bilic vows Hammers will bounce back after Marcus Rashford spoils Boleyn Ground’s FA Cup farewell and eases pressure on Louis van Gaal
West Ham United 1, Manchester United 2
West Ham manager Slaven Bilic has vowed his team will bounce straight back after party poopers Manchester United spoiled the Boleyn Ground's FA Cup farewell by dumping the Hammers out on Wenesday night.
Goals from teenage striker Marcus Rashford and midfielder Marouane Fellaini set United on their way to victory in this quarter-final replay, and defender James Tomkins' late header could not avert the hosts' first home defeat since August.
It means West Ham will not end a 35-year wait for a major trophy before moving to the Olympic Stadium this summer, but Bilic urged his team to respond by clinching European qualification with a strong finish to the Premier League.
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"We have seven big games and we are still big time in the competition for Europe and we want to finish as high as possible," he said.
"Of course this is a huge disappointment and it's going to affect us. There's nothing wrong with that, but it can affect us tonight and tomorrow maybe, then on Friday we have to come together and bounce back. And make no mistake, we're going to do it."
Van Gaal's trophy pledge
Under-fire United boss Louis van Gaal played down the importance of the win to his job prospects but underlined his determination to end United's three-year barren streak.
"I want to win a title in England because everywhere I have won a title," said the former Ajax, Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach. "I am not important; the club, the fans, and the players are imporant."
Hammers forward Enner Valencia was guilty of two weak finishes in the first half, while United's attacks, though sharper, resulted only in routine saves by Darren Randolph from Fellaini and Jesse Lingard.
Too little, too late from Hammers
Rashford lit the touchpaper, and silenced an expectant crowd, in the 54th minute when the 18-year-old collected a pass from Anthony Martial, who had seized upon Michail Antonio's stray ball, and engineered an angle to place his shot into the top-right corner.
Martial was involved again when United scored the second on 67 minutes, Lingard standing up a cross to the far post where the £35m France forward swung a boot and saw his miscued volley fly across goal and ricochet off Fellaini's thigh into the net.
Target man Andy Carroll headed a corner back across the six-yard box for Tomkins to nod in and set up a dramatic last 10 minutes worthy of the occasion and, though West Ham had the ball in the net again through Cheikhou Kouyate, his header was ruled out for offside.