The game of Europa League was serious into eight minutes of counted time when Craig Dawson beat a tall header, tore into a 50-50 challenge, and pushed every strength in his body to crash via one more Lyon participant for good measure.
It summed up West Ham’s stability during a draining dual half and, once his wrath at Felix Zwayer’s officiating has vanished, David Moyes will glance back at his side’s actions and figure that their European dream is far from dead.
There was no necessity to be low given that West Ham could have tumbled after Aaron Cresswell was controversially shipped off for fouling Moussa Dembélé slightly before half-time. The shame mainly belonged to Lyon. They formed little against 10 men and West Ham set their sense of unfairness to good service, going forward through Jarrod Bowen and battling to hold on after Tanguy Ndombele balanced with 24 minutes departed.
“The game is extremely much to play for,” told Moyes, who declined to be pulled on Zwayer’s firing of Cresswell. The West Ham director was more curious in speaking about how his side denied Lyon. “We defended well,” Moyes told.
Eventually, it was another illustration of the togetherness Moyes has infused at the London Stadium. It will stand West Ham in fine stead when this Europa League quarter-final continues at Stade de Gerland the following week. They are not in the practice of moving over smoothly and have shown they can break Lyon’s defense.
“We can score,” said Moyes, who will wish there is more to arrive from his invasion. West Ham was too frenetic in control at times and the fear is that they will live to mourn Michail Antonio’s defeat to transform a proper chance momentarily before Ndombele’s goal.
Lyon were Champions League semi-finalists 2 years back and are good adequately to punish any sin despite fibbing ninth in Ligue 1. They are a skilled squad and were faster to resolve than West Ham, who were in their foremost European quarter-final since 1981.
Thiago and TNdombele Mendes saved the ball far from Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek for lengthy spells and Lyon nearly led earlier on, Dembélé riding Lucas Paquetá’s cross wide.
West Ham’s points came during the break. They terrorized when Dawson fired Saïd Benrahma, who was rejected by Anthony Lopes, and likewise when Antonio’s shot was stopped by Castello Luke.
The match became tricky. It appeared doubtful that Moyes would be staying on the touchline to criticize the officers at half-time, with West Ham’s chief incandescent after Cresswell’s foul on Dembélé was supposed to have refused an obvious goalscoring chance.
It was doubtful from Zwayer, who had waved out Bowen’s pleas for a free-kick beats before Houssem Aouar shipped Dembélé racing above Kurt Zouma. Dembélé even blinked at his teammates after Cresswell was hailed off. The striker’s trace had taken him out from goal, while Zouma was shielding, and it was deemed ridiculous that there was no intervention from VAR.
The conclusion stood and Moyes was reserved for his protests. He was in a feisty mood. Later he criticized a lover who ran on the slope during the second half, ending a promising West Ham aggression and increasing the prospect of a Uefa breakdown. “I was baffled,” Moyes told. “Those things don’t help the team.”
West Ham earned better. Moyes had maintained his defense at half-time, Benrahma creating a way for Ben Johnson, but he had a strategy of attack. Lyon was vulnerable on the leave and they followed when Malo Gusto fell to halt a Pablo Fornals run. Fornals poked the ball onto Jérôme Boateng and it ran through to Bowen, whose muddy shot hit the Lyon defender and glanced over Lopes.
The din was unbelievable when the ball moved in and West Ham pursued a second, Antonio going close. It was a climactic moment. Peter Bosz freshened up his side, obtaining on Tetê and Karl Toko Ekambi, and Lyon’s hazard raised.
They had better width and the shift paid off when Tetê dribbled past Johnson and plugged in a ball that Alphonse Areola and Ryan Fredericks forgot to clear, letting Ndombele to score. West Ham had eventually cracked. By full-time, though, they yet had hope.
