Sam's Footy Blog: West Ham United vs Manchester United: Match Report.

Teams:

West Ham United- Jaaskelainen, Demel, Collins, Tomkins, Potts, Diarra, Nolan, Collison, Joe Cole, Vaz Te, C.Cole.
Subs- Spiegel, Reid, Jarvis, Taylor, Noble, Spence, Lee.

Manchester United- De Gea, Rafael, Evans, Smalling, Buttner, Vidic, Scholes, Cleverley, Kagawa, Welbeck, Hernandez.
Subs- Lindegaard, Ferdinand, Valencia, Giggs, Young, Van Persie, Macheda.

In the opening stages of the match, Manchester United dominated. West Ham barely got a touch of the ball in the first 5 minutes. However The Hammers gradually started working their way into the match; Carlton Cole forcing Paul Scholes to clear his header off the line after the 29 year old connected with an in-swinging corner from Jack Collison. After 20 minutes the match was fairly even.

Two minutes later Manchester United struck the first blow. Javier Hernandez setting up Tom Cleverley for the goal. The lead didn't last for long.

Just over four and a half minutes later, Joe Cole, on his second debut for West Ham, whipped in a cross; a cross which was met by James Collins' head. The Welsh international scoring his first goal since his move back to West Ham after a three year spell at Aston Villa.

West Ham were buzzing after equalising and continued to put pressure on the 11 times FA Cup winners. West Ham could not turn the pressure into a goal and at half time the scores were square.

Half Time: West Ham United 1-1 Manchester United.

The second half started fairly evenly with both sides coming close. However, it was West Ham who struck first. In the 58th minute Jack Collison curled a corner in which eventually fell to Joe Cole who was the left hand side. 18 yards out, Cole swung in a fantastic cross which James Collins converted to score his second goal of the game, again, with his head.

That goal forced Alex Ferguson to take drastic action. First, Robin Van Persie replaced Javier Hernandez, then Paul Scholes made way for Antonio Valencia. Van Persie nearly made an instant impact, coming close at the near post from an Alexander Buttner corner. Manchester United looked a lot more threatening after Van Persie and Valencia came on. West Ham managed to survive the onslaught.

Joe Cole's second debut for West Ham ended in the 77th minute. The West Ham academy product strolled off the pitch to a standing ovation from the West Ham faithful. After leaving West Ham in 2003, Cole went on to make 184 appearances for Chelsea, winning 10 trophies (3 Premier League titles, 3 FA Cups, 2 League Cups & 2 Community Shields) before moving to Liverpool where he didnt have as much success. Fellow Englishman, Matt Taylor, replaced him.

West Ham had a bit more possession for the next 5 minutes before Manchester United seized control again. The Hammers looked to have held on for a fantastic win and an FA Cup shock.

However in the 90th minute Robin Van Persie struck to pull the game level in the dying moments of the game. A cool finish swept the ball past West Ham goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen and into the back of the net.

The goal means that West Ham and Manchester United will have to do it all again on Wednesday 16th January at Old Trafford.
Full Time: West Ham United 2-2 Manchester United.

My Man Of The Match: James Collins.

Star Players: James Collins, Joe Cole, Dan Potts, Alexander Buttner, Tom Cleverley, Robin Van Persie.

West Ham United player ratings: