Reece Burke's extra-time winner spares West Ham blushes

Should it have taken 202 minutes of football for West Ham United to score past Shrewsbury Town? Probably not, but they did it in the end and now find themselves in the fourth round of the FA Cup. On a long, cold night at the London Stadium, a young West Ham team edged slowly towards the Shrewsbury goal, finally breaking the deadlock, and avoiding penalties, with eight minutes left of extra time. That was when Reece Burke, in his second start of the season, found the net. And West Ham managed to avoid what could have been an even more painful evening.

For David Moyes this was a welcome chance, after eight points in West Ham’s last four Premier League games, to relieve some of the pressure on his over-worked players. So he unveiled a youthful West Ham side. Reece Oxford, back from his loan spell in Germany, made his first start since August 2016. Toni Martinez, signed from Valencia 18 months ago, made his first start for the club. Reece Burke, Josh Cullen and Sam Byram were thrown in too.

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The result was a West Ham team high on youthful energy but lacking in organisation and cohesion. They worked hard but against a well-organised Shrewsbury defence, marshalled by Aristote Nsiala and Mat Sadler, they laboured to find a way through. Martinez put himself about up front, looking well-adjusted to the challenge of English football, but the closest he got in the first half was when he went down in the box and was denied a penalty.

There was one sharp one-two between Byram and Cullen, which ended with Byram skewing wide from just inside the box. But the closest West Ham got before the break was from a set piece, and from their most experienced player at that. Manuel Lanzini swerved one from 35 yards but Dean Henderson in the Shrewsbury goal was equal to it.

West Ham needed a brisk improvement at the start of the second half, but they still struggled to threaten from open play. Oxford nearly turned in a Lanzini corner, and West Ham had a reasonable shout for a penalty when Lanzini was tripped in the box. It felt as if the nimble Argentinean was the only player who could threaten the Shrewsbury goal, although when he belted one over from 25 yards, the first hints of anxiety from the home crowd could be heard.

They only got more nervous straight after when Joe Hart, redundant for the first hour, had to charge out to block Stefan Payne who had been cleverly played through by Jon Nolan. Moyes knew something had to change, so threw on Mark Noble and Marko Arnautovic, two players he would rather not have had to use.

But even those players could not get West Ham over the line. And their players suddenly realised they were heading for an extra-time period that none of them wanted. Martinez snuck in down the right and put one into the side netting. Then Arnautovic, who had lifted his team, got in down the left, but again hit the side netting, even if half the crowd thought it was in. Arnautovic wanted to end the game quickly and smacked a 20-yarder, but it flew just wide of the far post. There was time for an almighty scare at the other end, when Nsiala headed just over from Carlton Morris’ cross, but none of it was enough to end the tie in 90 minutes.

West Ham knew the game should not have taken this long, and they tried to push harder in extra time. Mark Noble had a header cleared off the line by Ben Godfrey. Martinez took up some threatening positions but he was tiring: he sliced one volley well wide, then failed to get enough on another chance at the far post. And at the end of the first half of extra time West Ham had their best chance yet: Arnautovic played in Lanzini who shifted away from the defence to make himself an easy chance, only for substitute James Bolton to heroically block on the line with his stomach.

Just when it felt as if the game was heading for penalties, West Ham finally broke through. Shrewsbury were exhausted in the second half of extra time, unable to get out of their box, and it was just a question of finding enough space for a shot. It was Arnautovic who made the chance, hooking the ball back in from the byline. He found Burke, lurking on the edge of the box, and he thundered a shot in off the underside of the bar. West Ham finally had the lead and, after that long waiting, they were not going to lose it.