Sometimes it’s the hope that kills you.

West Ham’s FA Cup run has come to an end after a 4-2 defeat on penalties against Leeds. To put it mildly, the game was quite eventful.

Eyebrows were raised when Nuno Espírito Santo’s starting eleven was released, with key players missing from the squad, and the likes of the unfavourable Max Kilman starting the crucial encounter. There was concern among West Ham fans, and it was justified in the opening stages of the tie.

The Irons started the game in a very nervy manner. Within the first two minutes, Noah Okafor almost put the visitors in front when his curled shot forced a stop from Alphonse Areola.

Leeds dominated possession in the early moments of the game, but the Hammers had their chances. Taty Castellanos went painfully close from Jarrod Bowen’s cross, but his close-range effort was denied by Lucas Perri.

Bowen himself then went close after some excellent play from Adama Traoré on the right-hand side. The skipper’s strike was parried away by Perri to keep the scores level.

However, it was the Irons’ opponents who found the opener on 26 minutes. Leeds worked the ball out wide, with Okafor picking out Ao Tanaka in the box.

The Japanese international showed tidy feet before finishing past Areola with a deflected effort to make it 1-0.

It was an admittedly disappointing half from Nuno’s side, who looked uncomfortable on the ball, especially in the middle of the park. Freddie Potts and Soungoutou Magassa struggled, whilst Mateus Fernandes found it difficult to impose himself on the game.

The Hammers went into half-time one down, as Tomáš Souček and Pablo replaced Potts and Magassa following the break.

The Irons started the second half brighter, despite how stop-start the opening fifteen minutes were. Leeds lost three players through injury during the game, two in that period.

West Ham were convinced that they had levelled the tie when Taty Castellanos hit the post with a diving header following Traoré’s cross.

That miss proved costly, as minutes later, Max Kilman brought down Brenden Aaronson in the box. VAR awarded a penalty, which Dominic Calvert-Lewin converted to double the visitors’ lead. It looked like Leeds were cruising to a semi-final spot.

Then, it happened.

On 93 minutes, Jarrod Bowen rocketed a shot against the post, which Mateus Fernandes dispatched on the follow-up. 2-1, with eight of the eleven injury-time minutes still left to play.

Then, just three minutes later, Traoré sent in another cross. Axel Disasi, up from centre-back, rose and poked the ball home with his toe to a thunderous reaction inside the stadium. After a brief, yet excruciating VAR check, the goal stood and the Irons secured extra time in crazy circumstances.

And what a period of extra time it was. Minutes into the first half, Castellanos capitalised on goalkeeper Perri’s mistake to complete the comeback: 3-2. The Argentine was ecstatic, jumping over the barricades and celebrating with the Irons’ faithful.

But alas, it was not to be.

VAR judged that Taty had strayed marginally offside in the build-up to the goal, and it was chalked off.

Minutes later, the Hammers had the ball in the back of the net again. Bowen struck the woodwork once more, with Pablo seemingly scoring his first West Ham goal on the rebound. But it was déjà vu for Nuno’s side, as the goal was once again disallowed for offside.

There was then another turn in the tale towards the end of extra time, as Alphonse Areola went down injured. With no Mads Hermansen on the bench, 20-year-old academy goalkeeper Fin Herrick made his debut in one of the craziest games of the season.

The young goalkeeper, who had never featured for West Ham’s first team, barely even got a touch of the ball before the game eventually went to penalties for the second time in two West Ham FA Cup games.

And for a brief moment, it felt like the stars had aligned. Joel Piroe stepped up first for Leeds against Herrick, who heroically saved the spot-kick – an amazing moment for the young man.

However, the celebrations were short-lived, as the ever-reliable Bowen stepped up for the Hammers, only to see his penalty denied by Perri.

Kyle Walker-Peters and Tomáš Souček scored for West Ham, as did Calvert-Lewin and Aaronson for Leeds to level things up. Then Pablo stepped up for Nuno’s side… and saw his penalty saved.

It was now all on young Fin Herrick to keep the Hammers in the tie. Pascal Struijk ran up for Leeds, with the academy goalkeeper ready.

And the Leeds man made no mistake, scoring to send his side through.

A heart-breaking end to what was an emphatic late comeback by the Irons. Nuno’s side didn’t deserve to go through based on the first 90 minutes, but certainly deserved glory based on the final 45.

Despite the loss, the game proved once again that this West Ham team has fight. With Crysencio Summerville, Konstantinos Mavropanos, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Jean-Clair Todibo and Callum Wilson all out, it was always going to be an uphill battle. But the Irons stayed in it until the end.

West Ham are out; they’re not going to Wembley, but there are silver linings. This team does not know when to give up, and with the injuries Leeds sustained today, the result may have done them as much harm as good.

Seven more games await Nuno’s side, who now must stay up this season. Wolves at home on Friday provides a great opportunity to get back on track and produce a strong finish to secure Premier League survival.

Come on You Irons ⚒️