In the third round of the FA Cup, West Ham won 2-1 against Championship side Queens Park Rangers after extra time, with Tati Castellanos scoring his first goal, ending a 10-game winless run.
Striker Castellanos, who joined from Lazio last week in a £25.2m deal, scored in the first half of extra time to seal their first win since beating Burnley 3-2 in the Premier League on 8 November.
Under pressure, West Ham manager Nuno Espirito Santo was smiling with relief at full-time, having had to wait 32 minutes for his team to shoot after Chrisencio Somerville forced a good save from Joe Walsh.
However, Somerville were forced into nine minutes of stoppage time in the first half when host center back Konstantinos Mavropanos was forced to stretch with a neck injury. Somerville scored on a hard hit from close range in the 10th inning.
However, QPR hit back midway through the second half when Richard Cohn saw Karamoko Dembele’s cross beyond Mads Hermansen.
West Ham dominated from then on, but were unable to prevent extra-time from tying the score. Somerville was able to get past Jimmy Dunne on the left and cross the ball to Castellanos who headed home to take the lead once again.
Nuno: Goals change everything – this week will be better
West Ham manager Nuno Espirito Santo:
“I’m really happy (to win again). It’s a good feeling for us, the fans and the players. We controlled and dominated at the start, but we didn’t really produce much. In the second half, we got off to a really good start. The combination we had was what we needed to click.”
“Overall, I’m very happy with the fight, the drive, the character, especially in the situation we’re in. We conceded a goal and we bounced back. Today is very important for us.
“Goals give us confidence. Klei (Somerville) also got an assist and scored. Pablo came in and Jarrod (Bowen) had a great game. The guys up front did a really good job.”
“The goal changes everything, not just for them personally, but for us as well. It’s going to change our week. We’re going to feel better during the week, our players are going to recover better.”
“I think we can take a step forward and improve. Everything will be better this week.”
Regarding Mavropanos’ injury, he said: “It was terrible. My neck hurts a lot. I’m in pain. I’ll have to do some tests for a few days, but hopefully he’ll be fine.”
Bowen: We’ll need more goals from Castellanos
Tati Castellanos leads West Ham 2-1 against QPR
West Ham captain Jarrod Bowen told TNT Sports:
“It’s really important. When you’re in our situation, all you need is a performance and a result to turn the season around. We knew going into this game it wasn’t going to be easy. There was a lot of pressure to perform and get a result and it took 120 minutes.”
“This says a lot about the team that we stuck with it, kept moving forward, and reaped the rewards.”
About Tati Castellanos: “He has a lot of experience and is really good as a player and as a person. He has played two games now and I am very happy with the goal he scored today.”
“It’s a real confidence booster to score the first goal so early. I’m really happy for him because we need him to score more goals.”
