Thirty eight years ago almost to the day, a left back scored the winning goal for West Bromwich Albion in an away FA Cup 4th Round tie. A vision still clear in the mind many years later. Now, there is no Albion fan of relevant vintage that is going to link Derek Statham and Conor Townsend in the same conversation, but you can't deny the synergy between 1982 and 2020. Statham's winner at Gillingham all those years ago inspired a cup run that ended at the penultimate hurdle of a semi final defeat to QPR. Time will tell how far we will progress in 2020 but for now we can just bask in the glory of Townsend's spectacular winner at the London Stadium that dumped Premier League West Ham out of the cup.
Back in '82, Albion were a top flight side denying plucky Gillingham a cup upset. Although Albion were the clear underdogs in status this time, a team from the top of the championship winning at a Premier league struggler is hardly a cup shock for the ages. As you would expect in these times of a watered down FA Cup, changes were aplenty, but you could argue that Albion rested more first team regulars than their hosts. In fact the one-nil scoreline was a more comfortable experience than the slender margin it seems as West Ham failed to create many clear cut chances and arguably were the second best side on the day by a considerable margin.
Albion were bouyed by a fervent 5,000 away following making the trip from the Midlands down to the capital. The London Stadium may well have been packed to its capacity for this cup tie, but this soulless shell of a pseudo-football ground was hardly a cauldron of fear. In contrast to Staham's last ditch winner, Townsend's decisive strike came in the first half and there were few heart-in-the-mouth moments for the remainder of the game.
This was Albion's third visit to the capital in the month of January after a couple of trips to Charlton including the 3rd Round tie that yielded the same score and result. All three trips remained unbeaten and it is full fingers crossed that the cup run will inspire a return to winning ways in the league.
You have to expect in these modern times for teams to prioritise the league over the cup. It will not be music to the ears of the club's accountants, but many fans would trade a failed promotion bid to lift the FA Cup in May. The chances are a lot less for the latter, especially with the big guns dominating the competition more now than in the past, but dreams are what keeps a football fan in optimistic mode.
The 5th Road is inexplicably held in midweek this year, so a blog post is determined by a home draw or a Midlands away tie - the winner of Coventry-Birmingham would be nice. In the meantime let's just reflect on a successful trip to West Ham and the flame of a promotion and cup double to repeat 1931 still alight.
