By Louis Nixon

West Ham United have finally broken their winless streak after defeating QPR 2-1 in extra time, thanks to Summerville’s striking performance and Taty’s first Hammers goal. 

A slow start saw West Ham take their time to get into the groove of the game; QPR managed to nick a few opportunities from the sluggish Hammers, but fortunately, none would end up in the back of the net. 

The first moment of worry would come closing in on the second half, despite already being short on defensive numbers, Nuno’s options were limited further after Mavropanos suffered a horrifying injury, the Greek International was seen on the floor, seemingly suffering from a head injury, which required him to be stretchered off the pitch. Hopefully, in the coming days, we will find out the seriousness of the injury, but at the moment, we can only hope for good news. 

With the 9 additional minutes from the injury, Summerville sparked into action after a lovely controlled pass by Taty found its way to Magassa, who played in Summerville and gave the Hammers the lead heading into the break. The Dutchman was electrifying tonight, and he seriously showed the calibre of player he is, a very well-deserved MOTM award. 

A nicked lead into halftime, but QPR failed to fall as they clawed one back, a lapse in the game for the Hammers as rash challenges followed one another and schoolboy errors were made, turned heads gave QPR the lead, which subsequently saw the game go to extra time. 

The tired, struggling, withered Hammers seemed re-energised after Scarles had been brought on for Mayers and Walker-Peters had been brought on for Wan-Bissaka, the revitalised energy gave Nuno’s side an edge and a quick ball played to Summerville, which was controlled brilliantly, saw him whip in a cross to Taty Castellenos, who converted the header to score his first goal in Claret & Blue

Both he and Summerville were the best performers tonight, the pair seemingly linked up very well with one another, with a fair share of credit also going to the duo of Walker-Peters and Bowen. They both linked up very well with one another and created several chances despite being on the pitch for a limited time with each other. 

Whilst some people can take the negatives from this game, a win will translate to confidence, whether that’s to team spirit or individual players, confidence will be claimed through this victory, and it’s much needed ahead of the Premier League game against Spurs. 

The Hammers are now into the Fourth round of the Cup, of which the draw will take place tomorrow ahead of the Liverpool vs Barnsley fixture.