Ben Johnson and his West Ham United teammates suffered the familiar gut-punch of a late blow at Manchester United on Wednesday, as three goals inside the final 13 minutes brought our Emirates FA Cup journey to an end for the 2022/23 season.
Saïd Benrahma’s 54th-minute strike had earlier put the Hammers in front and gave them firm hope of progressing to a first quarter-final in this competition since 2016 - when a late Old Trafford goal helped the Red Devils force a replay they would win at the Boleyn Ground - only for the game to run away from the Londoners in the final stages.
The 3-1 scoreline ultimately flattered the hosts, who will now face Fulham in the last-eight – and it was not the first time West Ham have suffered at the death to these opponents in recent times.
Having been defeated by final-minute strikes in both Premier League games against the Red Devils last term, it was a case of déjà-vu for Johnson, who left the pitch proud of his team’s performance, but disappointed that they were unable to convert that into meaningful reward.
We thought we had a great chance in the FA Cup.
We’ve obviously seen the results of the teams who have been knocked out and it’s a missed opportunity.
When we come here it seems like we never get the rewards we deserve in the results. We’ve come here a few times and been so close, only to lose goals in the last minute through no fault of anyone.
We defended so well and played some great stuff – what we’re doing is coming together but it’s unfortunate that we didn’t get the result today and didn’t go through.
We could have gone into the last 20 minutes 3-0 up, but we didn’t, so when you go into that period at 1-0, the pressure is always going to come.
They brought on world-class players and you have to defend as well as you can, but sometimes it’s a bit of quality [from the opposition].
They scored a great second goal which took it away from us and it’s unfortunate conceding from a set piece and then again in the dying moments.
It’s really frustrating, but we’ve got to move on. We’ve got a game in three days and we’ve definitely got something to build on.
We win as a team and we lose as a team.
These are the moments where the dressing room really comes together. Obviously it was great when we won against Forest on Saturday, but to come here and play like we did and show a lot of character, means probably more to the boys and the coaching staff.
Emotions run high, and the disappointment will be there in the next few hours, but as we review the game we’ll see how well we’ve done and we always play well here – we just need to build on it and hopefully be on the right end of the result [when we next come to Old Trafford].
We showed great commitment and the fans were always going to relay it back to us in the way they sung and with their support.
I’m sure there’s going to be thousands coming to Cyprus as well, which is much-appreciated and we always feel the love from the fans.
It’s just so gutting of course that we didn’t win the game, even more so for the fans as it would have been a special night for them travelling home.
The fans are fantastic – I’ve not been in the first team that long but I already know how special they are and how they treat me.
Brighton is a game we’re definitely looking forward to [on Saturday].
We want to make right all the results that haven’t gone our away against them in the Premier League over the years.
We’re going to compete as hard as ever and give them a really good game. Hopefully we can be on the winning side.
