West Ham United's superb winning-run came to an end but
the FA Cup dream is still very much alive following a battling 0-0
draw against Bolton Wanderers this afternoon.
In a tense and scrappy encounter at the Reebok Stadium, neither side managed to find the all-important breakthrough, and will now contest a replay at Upton Park, to be decided once the fate of Bolton's UEFA Cup clash against Marseille is known.
Alan Pardew named an unchanged starting line-up following the 3-0 Premiership win over Birmingham City on Monday night. That meant Dean Ashton continued to partner Marlon Harewood in attack, although there was a defensive addition to the substitutes' bench, as James Collins replaced Yaniv Katan.
In a lively and frantic start to the game, both sides attacked with purpose and might have opened the scoring inside the first 10 minutes. Bolton created the first real opportunity of the afternoon, when Gardner raced past Scaloni on seven minutes and cut the ball back from Davies, whose effort was blocked by Gabiddon.
From the resulting clearance, Matty Etherington escaped on the counter-attack and saw his pass drop kindly into the path of Ashton, who sliced a volley just wide of the target from 20 yards out.
Despite its promising start, the first half failed to develop into anything more than a close-fought, cagey affair, with goalscoring opportunities few and far between. The hosts enjoyed the greater share of possession, and predictably bombarded the Hammers' penalty area with long balls, but Anton Ferdinand, celebrating his 21st birthday, and Danny Gabbidon held firm against the aerial assault.
The visitors almost carved out a decent opportunity with seven minutes remaining in the first half, as Konchesky fed the ball into Harewood and galloped on to receive a return pass, but the defender's low shot was blocked by a defender.
Having finished the half strongly, Hammers emerged from the interval clearly determined to create a Club record of eight successive victories in all competitions and, although the hosts again had the advantage in possession terms, it was Alan Pardew's men who looked more dangerous going forward.
Just seven minutes after the restart, the best chance of the game went begging, as Etherington played in Konchesky on the overlap, who advanced into the penalty area but saw his low cut-back cleared by a defender. Harewood then found a yard of space on the right and crossed low into the six-yard box, but Jaidi got to the ball just before Ashton.
At the other end, Davies toe-poked an effort wide of the target, while Stelios had a close-range effort ruled out for offside, and that was the nearest Bolton came to troubling Shaka Hislop.
With half an hour remaining, Pardew withdrew Harewood in favour of Zamora and Hammers went on to control the closing stages of the game, yet still couldn't create the crucial opening. Sheringham entetred the fray in place of Ashton with 15 minutes left, and moments later it appeared Hammers had found the breakthrough, as Zamora twisted and turned, before slipping the ball through to Benayoun, only for Gardner to get back and intercept at the vital moment.
Bolton rallied at the end and forced a succession of corners in stoppage time, but the solid Hammers rearguard again stood firm to secure their third successive clean sheet, and send the 6,000 or so travelling Hammers fans heading home happy, with an Upton Park replay to look forward to.
In a tense and scrappy encounter at the Reebok Stadium, neither side managed to find the all-important breakthrough, and will now contest a replay at Upton Park, to be decided once the fate of Bolton's UEFA Cup clash against Marseille is known.
Alan Pardew named an unchanged starting line-up following the 3-0 Premiership win over Birmingham City on Monday night. That meant Dean Ashton continued to partner Marlon Harewood in attack, although there was a defensive addition to the substitutes' bench, as James Collins replaced Yaniv Katan.
In a lively and frantic start to the game, both sides attacked with purpose and might have opened the scoring inside the first 10 minutes. Bolton created the first real opportunity of the afternoon, when Gardner raced past Scaloni on seven minutes and cut the ball back from Davies, whose effort was blocked by Gabiddon.
From the resulting clearance, Matty Etherington escaped on the counter-attack and saw his pass drop kindly into the path of Ashton, who sliced a volley just wide of the target from 20 yards out.
Despite its promising start, the first half failed to develop into anything more than a close-fought, cagey affair, with goalscoring opportunities few and far between. The hosts enjoyed the greater share of possession, and predictably bombarded the Hammers' penalty area with long balls, but Anton Ferdinand, celebrating his 21st birthday, and Danny Gabbidon held firm against the aerial assault.
The visitors almost carved out a decent opportunity with seven minutes remaining in the first half, as Konchesky fed the ball into Harewood and galloped on to receive a return pass, but the defender's low shot was blocked by a defender.
Having finished the half strongly, Hammers emerged from the interval clearly determined to create a Club record of eight successive victories in all competitions and, although the hosts again had the advantage in possession terms, it was Alan Pardew's men who looked more dangerous going forward.
Just seven minutes after the restart, the best chance of the game went begging, as Etherington played in Konchesky on the overlap, who advanced into the penalty area but saw his low cut-back cleared by a defender. Harewood then found a yard of space on the right and crossed low into the six-yard box, but Jaidi got to the ball just before Ashton.
At the other end, Davies toe-poked an effort wide of the target, while Stelios had a close-range effort ruled out for offside, and that was the nearest Bolton came to troubling Shaka Hislop.
With half an hour remaining, Pardew withdrew Harewood in favour of Zamora and Hammers went on to control the closing stages of the game, yet still couldn't create the crucial opening. Sheringham entetred the fray in place of Ashton with 15 minutes left, and moments later it appeared Hammers had found the breakthrough, as Zamora twisted and turned, before slipping the ball through to Benayoun, only for Gardner to get back and intercept at the vital moment.
Bolton rallied at the end and forced a succession of corners in stoppage time, but the solid Hammers rearguard again stood firm to secure their third successive clean sheet, and send the 6,000 or so travelling Hammers fans heading home happy, with an Upton Park replay to look forward to.