{"id":301018,"date":"2023-11-30T21:24:39","date_gmt":"2023-11-30T21:24:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/?p=301018"},"modified":"2023-11-30T21:24:39","modified_gmt":"2023-11-30T21:24:39","slug":"tomas-soucek-snatches-late-winner-for-west-ham-in-serbia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/soccer\/tomas-soucek-snatches-late-winner-for-west-ham-in-serbia\/","title":{"rendered":"Tomas Soucek snatches late winner for West Ham in Serbia"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/p>\n
Tomas Soucek struck late on yet again as West Ham secured their passage into the knock-out stages of the Europa League despite a Serbian snooze-fest against Backa Topola.<\/p>\n
The Czech midfielder has now scored in his last five matches for club and country after an 89th-minute volley earned a scratchy 1-0 win.<\/p>\n
Now they need to finish the job against Freiburg at the London Stadium in a fortnight to ensure they top the group and avoid a two-legged play-off in February.<\/p>\n
Around 320 hardy West Ham fans made the 2,000-mile journey out to the Balkans, including a 100-mile trek up the motorway from Belgrade to the TSC Arena.<\/p>\n
Many of them had got their wish, in the absence of injured forwards Jarrod Bowen and Michail Antonio, of a first start of the season for 19-year-old FA Youth Cup-winning striker Divin Mubama.<\/p>\n
But the youngster barely got a sniff of the ball as West Ham struggled to rouse themselves in the sleepy Serbian town.<\/p>\n
The hosts came into the encounter on the back of a 4-0 win over Super League leaders Partizan at the weekend, and they made a confident start with Uros Milovanovic forcing an early save from Lukasz Fabianski.<\/p>\n
Then an error from Aaron Cresswell, handed a rare start in one of seven changes from the side which snatched a late win at Burnley thanks to Soucek\u2019s goal, gifted Aleksandar Cirkovic a shooting opportunity with Fabianski saving again.<\/p>\n
West Ham registered their first shot on target after half an hour, a tame effort from Said Benrahma on his 150th West Ham appearance which was easily dealt with by Veljko Ilic.<\/p>\n
But it was a mind-numbing first half neatly summed up by former player Joe Cole, on TNT Sports, as \u201cdross\u201d and \u201cappalling\u201d.<\/p>\n
Boss David Moyes turned to Danny Ings and the lesser-spotted Maxwel Cornet just after the hour, replacing Benrahma and Mubama, in a bid to inject some life into his unconvincing side.<\/p>\n
And as the game ticked into stoppage tie Cornet crossed from the left and Soucek hammered in a volley to win it.<\/p>\n
West Ham have enjoyed a thrilling run in Europe over the past three seasons, including their historic Europa Conference League final triumph in Prague.<\/p>\n
Although this was not one which will live long in the memory it was an 18th win in 20 matches in Europe, job done for Moyes and his side.<\/p>\n