Goals from Diafra Sakho and André Ayew helped West Ham ease into the third round at the expense of their League Two opponents 9.35pm BST That’s your lot! West Ham reach the third round of the League Cup thanks to late first-half goals from Diafra Sakho and Andre Ayew. It’s a first win of the season for the Premier League side, who were too slick for their lowly League Two opponents.
Do join me for coverage of the third-round draw at 4.15am
. Bye. 9.32pm BST 90 min: There will be three added minutes. 9.29pm BST 88 min: Almost! But Forster’s header from Storer’s delivery goes over. West Ham bring on Domingos Quina for Edimilson Fernandes. 9.29pm BST 87 min: Cheltenham win a corner on the left. Can they set up a grandstand finish? 9.25pm BST 83 min: Ayew loops a cross to Hernandez on the right. He’s tackled, but the ball breaks to Byram, whose firm cross has to be put behind in the six-yard box by Forster. The healed Obiang heads the corner over. 9.20pm BST 79 min: Pedro Obiang’s down after being caught on the heel by Kyle Storer. 9.20pm BST 77 min: Cheltenham are straining to find a way back into the game. West Ham continue to defend well, though. “A win tonight should boost our confidence for the relegation six pointer against Newcastle on Saturday,” parps Tom Shaw. 9.16pm BST 74 min: After a high ball drops for him, Pell slams a volley across the face of goal from the right and the sliding Holman’s inches away from a tap-in. Instead the ball trickles out for a goal-kick. 9.14pm BST 73 min: Back from a knee injury, Cheikhou Kouyate comes on for his first appearance of the season, replacing Mark Noble. 9.12pm BST 71 min: Ayew twists and turns on the right of the area, before trying to pick out the far corner with a curling effort. Just wide. Cheltenham make their final change, Dan Holman on for Mohamed Eisa. 9.09pm BST 67 min: Fernandes charges into space down the left, but his cutback’s put behind by Forster. 9.06pm BST 64 min: Replays suggest it should have been a Cheltenham penalty, assuming the offence took place inside the area. Masuaku clearly pushed Eisa after being beaten by the sprightly forward. Both sides make changes. Javier Hernandez is on for Diafra Sakho, while Brian Graham for Danny Wright is Cheltenham’s second change. 9.03pm BST 62 min: West Ham spring up the other end and remind Cheltenham of their threat, but Masuaku’s cross is just too high for Sakho in the middle. Back come Cheltenham. Eisa runs at Masuaku on the right and goes down, claiming that the left-back’s obstructed him. He wants a penalty and is furious to see his appeals ignored. The home fans aren’t happy either. 9.02pm BST 60 min: After offering little all evening, Cheltenham almost score! The ball’s pumped into the box from the right and eventually comes to Mohamed Eisa. His shot looks destined for the back of the net, until birthday boy James Collins throws himself in the way of the ball. Eisa has another go from the edge of the area, but it’s straight at Adrian and West Ham maintain their two-goal lead. 9.00pm BST 59 min: “Great to hear that the Sky commentators are not becoming overly hyperbolic by describing Declan Rice as having “the footballing world at his feet” after his third 1st team outing,” says Alastair Angus. “Steady now.”I’ll be very surprised if he doesn’t win the Ballon d’Or next year. 8.58pm BST 56 min: Masuaku drives inside from the left and finds Sakho on the edge of the area. His shot’s deflected wide. Collins meets Noble’s corner, but his header fizzes inches over. 8.56pm BST 55 min: Cheltenham have barely had a touch since the restart. The upsetometer’s barely registering at the moment. 8.53pm BST 52 min: Everyone’s raving about Declan Rice. The Irish youngster is looking very assured on and off the ball for West Ham. 8.52pm BST 50 min: Masuaku diddles past a couple of challenges and briefly looks like he’s about to score a fine solo goal, but the ball runs away from him before he can shoot. West Ham have made an assertive start to the second half. 8.50pm BST 48 min: “Geometry was obviously not something that came easily to the Cheltenham town keeper when at school,” says Alastair Angus. “Shocking positioning for that second roll in, sorry, goal.” 8.48pm BST 46 min: West Ham get the second half underway. Cheltenham have made a change, Kevin Dawson replacing Will Boyle. 8.41pm BST These are the other scores in the League Cup tonight:Huddersfield 0-1 Rotherham HTNewcastle 2 -2 Nottingham Forest HT 8.33pm BST The half ends with West Ham threatening to add a third, Cheltenham defending desperately as they try to deal with a corner. Eventually Noble’s effort is blocked and the whistle blows. West Ham took their time, but they lead thanks to goals from Diafra Sakho and Andre Ayew. Cheltenham have worked hard, but they’re limited up front. 8.30pm BST 45 min+1: There will be one minute of the added stuff. “West Ham certainly are bereft in the pace department but Rice again looks like an assured young player,” says Alastair Angus. 8.30pm BST 44 min: “I’m delighted to see Bilic play three defensive midfielders against lowly Cheltenham when he only picked two against Premier League Southampton at the weekend,” says Terry Land. “When I say delighted.” 8.29pm BST Liberated by the opening goal, West Ham turn on the style and double their lead, though it’s poor goalkeeping from Jonathan Flack again. Sakho’s first-time pass played Ayew through on the right, but the Ghana forward’s task was made easier by Flack’s decision to come off his line and open up the angle with bizarre positioning. All Ayew has to do is slip the ball into the very big target granted to him by the Cheltenham keeper and this tie looks devoid of drama now. 8.26pm BST The pressure had been building. “Keep working, keep working!” is the shout from the Cheltenham bench, but gaps were starting to appear. Noble slips a pass through to the unmarked and onside Sakho, who turns and sorts out his feet before shooting from the edge of the area. It’s not struck with any power, but Flack is slow to react and the Cheltenham goalkeeper’s delayed response allows the ball to dribble into the bottom right corner. Relief for West Ham. 8.23pm BST 39 min: This is exceedingly sloppy at the moment. 8.21pm BST 35 min: Emails please! 8.18pm BST 31 min: Winchester’s back on his feet, but West Ham have stirred in the past few minutes and win a free-kick deep on the right after dawdling play from Cranston, who fouled Sakho. Noble’s delivery’s headed away from Collins by Grimes, though. 8.16pm BST 29 min: The first corner’s headed away from Collins at the far post, a vital intervention. The second one’s curled in from the right by Noble and met firmly by Ogbonna, whose goalbound effort’s headed off the line by Storer! Cheltenham try to counter as they clear their lines, but Pell loses it. All of a sudden, everyone realises that Winchester’s down on the edge of the Cheltenham area, in need of treatment. With Cheltenham down to 10 men momentarily, West Ham press on and Ayew’s released on the left. He slides the ball into the middle and Sakho looks certain to score from six yards, but his shot’s blocked by Flack! What an action-packed flurry! Eventually the ball’s put out for Winchester to receive treatment. 8.14pm BST 28 min: Sakho wallops a cross to no one in particular in the middle. Pell decides to volley it towards the goal-line, tries to retrieve the situation by bringing the ball down and knocks it behind for a corner. Oh dear. 8.12pm BST 27 min: Slaven Bilic wanted West Ham to bring in more pace in the summer. There is none in this side. Cheltenham win another corner on the right, Masuaku conceding it. This delivery is better from Storer and it’s powerfully attacked by Boyle, but his header lacks control and flies well over. 8.09pm BST 24 min: What a waste. Storer’s corner flies straight into the side netting. 8.09pm BST 23 min: Pell hoicks a high, hanging ball towards the far post from the right. The rangy Wright challenges with Collins, who does well to put him off, but Adrian can’t prevent the ball from going behind for a corner. 8.08pm BST 22 min: Pell’s felled by Masuaku on the right. A chance for Cheltenham to load the box in the agricultural style. Grimes rises highest in the middle, but his header hits his own man. The home fans appeal for handball, but it’s not the most convincing of penalty shouts. 8.04pm BST 19 min: There’s still no sign of a goal. There have been a couple elsewhere, though. Find out the latest scores here. 8.01pm BST 16 min: Cheltenham attack again, Eisa scheming on the left once more. However he can’t work space for a shot and the ball ends up in Adrian’s gloves after an aimless cross from Winchester. 8.00pm BST 14 min: Mohamed Eisa has been quiet so far, but the dangerous Sudanese forward wakes up here, brilliantly poking a pass through the legs of James Collins on the left and through to Winchester, who has a sight of goal as he makes his way into the West Ham area. However Winchester’s tame low effort is easily saved by Adrian. 7.59pm BST 13 min: Ayew, whose movement is causing problems for Cheltenham, scampers down the right again, peeling on to a slide-rule pass from Byram. He cuts inside, moving into the Cheltenham area, but with support arriving he chooses to shoot with his left and drags a poor effort well wide of the near post with his left foot, a decision that earns him an earful from his team-mates. 7.58pm BST 12 min: “Benitez would be a great choice for West Ham,” says Tom Shaw. “I’m afraid Bilic just isn’t up to the Premiership, nice guy but too naive tactically.”It does look to be the case. The first season was enjoyable, but how much of that was down to Payet? Nothing seems to have improved from last season. 7.56pm BST 11 min: Cheltenham win their first corner, over on the right, but the delivery from Wright is lacking. 7.55pm BST 10 min: Noble lifts the corner deep to the far post. It’s headed back across goal by Ogbonna, but Grimes boots it clear. 7.54pm BST 9 min: Ayew pops up on the left and sees his cross diverted behind for the game’s first corner. “I’ll be watching the draw,” says JR in Illinois. “Of course it will be on at 10:15 PM here. I, like all right minded people, will be rooting for Chelsea to draw Aston Villa. Oh how I would laugh.”Why, do Chelsea have a former Aston Villa player? 7.52pm BST 7 min: A tepid start. 7.50pm BST 5 min: Andre Ayew, a foreign man, skedaddles down the right and plays a clever pass into the area for Sam Byram, an English man who overruns the ball. 7.49pm BST 4 min: Britain. Britain. 7.48pm BST 2 min: According to the Sky commentator, apparently Mark Noble is in the West Ham team to make sure the foreign lads take the game seriously. The early signs aren’t encouraging: Pedro Obiang is wearing fake glasses and a moustache, Adrian is watching Netflix on his phone and Andre Ayew keeps making comedy fart noises with his armpit. 7.46pm BST And we’re off! Cheltenham Town, kicking from right to left, get the game underway. “How shit must you be?” chant the West Ham fans. “We’re drawing away.” 7.43pm BST Here come the teams, walking out to polite applause at Whaddon Road. Cheltenham are in red and white stripes, West Ham are in black. 7.40pm BST “A minute by minute for this game?” says JR in Illinois. “Seems odd. Are you sure you aren’t paying the Guardian to do this to get your Hammers some pub?”That’s offensive to the dignity and tradition of the Carabao Cup. I assume everyone’s staying up to follow the third-round draw, by the way? See you all at 4.15am! 7.32pm BST So what of Cheltenham Town’s hopes of pulling off a famous upset? On the face of their results so far this season, not so good: a 2-1 defeat away to Morecambe Town, a 1-0 home win over Harry Kewell’s Crawley Town and a 3-0 reverse at Carlisle on the weekend. Early days, but it seems it might be a season of struggle for Gary Johnson’s side. That said, they made it this far thanks to a thrilling seven-goal thriller against Oxford United and four goals in four games suggests that Mohamed Eisa will be a tricky customer up front. West Ham are a Premier League side, but they have lost to Stockport, Northampton Town, Aldershot, Chesterfield and Sheffield United in this competition in recent years. 7.23pm BST These sides have only met once before - in this competition four years ago. West Ham progressed at Upton Park thanks to a wonderful performance from a certain Ravel Morrison and went on to reach the semi-finals, where they acquitted themselves admirably against Manchester City, Roger Johnson coming up with a defensive performance for the ages. Related: West Ham United 2-1 Cheltenham Town | Capital One Cup second round match report 7.19pm BST Cheltenham: Flatt; Grimes, Forster, Boyle, Cranston; Pell, Atangana, Storer, Winchester; Wright, Eisa. Subs: Graham, Dawson, Holman, O’Shaughnessy, Bower, Thomas, Lovett. West Ham: Adrian; Byram, Rice, Collins, Ogbonna, Masuaku; Noble, Obiang, Fernandes; Ayew, Sakho. Subs: Cresswell, Fonte, Kouyate, Hernandez, Hart, Haksabanovic, Quina. 4.04pm BST Hello. Although West Ham came out as the home team when the draw for the second round of the Milk Cup took place at 3.17am in an abandoned warehouse in the Phantom Zone, the most successful stadium migration in history means that they aren’t allowed to play any matches in their own ground this month. Three cheers for the London Stadium, the gift that keeps on giving! Still, Cheltenham’s a nice place and West Ham have never been to Whaddon Road before. Plus it’s not like they have a long history of coming unstuck in comedy circumstances against unfancied lower league opposition in cup competitions. Isn’t that right, Iain Dowie?All in all, you can see why this one’s been picked for live television coverage. It’s been a tricky start to the season for Slaven Bilic’s porous side and they could really do without messing up this tie. After opening with a 4-0 defeat to Manchester United, things took a turn for the farcical when they lost 3-2 to Southampton on the weekend. They’re without record signing Marko Arnautovic after his stupendously thick red card at St Mary’s, while Winston Reid is out – he injured his calf in the warm-up and had to be taken off on a stretcher, a day after signing a new five-year contract. Continue readingreadfullarticle
