For a long time in this early kick-off it looked as if West Ham had been overindulging in the local hospitality in the brewing capital of England, but a piece of champagne football from the substitute Crysencio Summerville sealed their place in the fifth round.
Nuno Espírito Santo’s side then had to survive a late Burton Albion onslaught after another West Ham substitute, Freddie Potts, had been sent off for a bad tackle on Julian Larsson, but the League One team lacked quality in front of goal as they spurned a number of good chances that could have sent this tie to penalties.
It was Summerville’s sixth goal in seven games, and the only surprise was that Nuno left it as late as the 83rd minute to bring on one of his big guns, when an earlier introduction might have prevented extra time.
“It’s confidence,” the head coach said of Summerville’s form. “Everything that he does seems to go well, so we have to take advantage of it. Winning is becoming a habit now.”
West Ham fans make their feelings clear to the club owners before the game through a banner attached to a light aircraft
CATHERINE IVILL/AMA/GETTY IMAGES
The mood among the West Ham fans was one of huge relief, and they were a darn sight happier than they had been at the start of the game.
In the build-up a plane flew over the Pirelli Stadium with a banner reading “Sullivan and Brady out”. West Ham fans also directed their ire at the Burton groundstaff as a hole in the net at their end delayed the kick-off, chanting at the poor man sent to fix it: “You only had one job.”
Nuno’s main job is keeping West Ham in the Premier League, which was reflected in a starting XI featuring ten changes from the side who drew with Manchester United in midweek — only Konstantinos Mavropanos, who took the armband, kept his place. The usual captain, Jarrod Bowen, did not even make the trip to Staffordshire.
Repairs to a hole in the net at the end of the ground housing the visiting fans caused a delay to kick-off
CATHERINE IVILL/AMA/GETTY IMAGES
For much of the game it looked like Nuno had stretched his resources too thinly against a side struggling to stay in League One. Burton may be 47 places below them in the football pyramid, and with only one win in their past nine league games, but there was a composure and purpose about their first-half performance, which contrasted sharply with the disjointed efforts of the Premier League team.
Burton had the better of it, with the visiting side happy to sit deep and play on the break, but Callum Wilson’s half-chance and shots over the bar from Soungoutou Magassa and Mohamadou Kanté — the latter went over the stand behind the goal and ended up in the car park — were all they had to show for what was a tame effort.
Not that Burton created a huge amount themselves, managing only one serious effort on goal — a Tyrese Shade strike through a crowded area saved comfortably by Alphonse Areola.
West Ham started the second half with more intent, pinning their opponents back and winning a succession of corners, one of which was met with a good header by Mavropanos, but the Burton goalkeeper, Brad Collins, got his body well in front of it.
Wilson had a couple of shots blocked during a big scramble from another West Ham corner and the striker then forced a good diving save from Collins after getting behind the Burton defence.
Traoré, who started for West Ham, causes Burton problems at the Pirelli Stadium in a game that remained goalless for 90 minutes
ANDREW BOYERS/REUTERS
The French midfielder Magassa was increasingly showing his quality, but Burton, while having less of the ball, still looked as though they had plenty in the tank going into the last quarter of the game.
A couple of late substitutions by Nuno indicated that West Ham were serious about progressing in the cup but it remained goalless after 90 minutes.
It was one of those substitutes, Summerville, who broke the deadlock with the first piece of genuine quality in the game. As Burton dropped deep, the Dutch forward cut in from the right and despite the bobbly pitch, produced a blistering shot from the edge of the box that flew past Collins.
Finally, Burton were looking distinctly second-best, but they were thrown a lifeline when Potts was sent off. That swung the momentum back in Burton’s favour for the second period of extra time. Jake Beesley had an effort cleared off the line and Kain Adom drove an effort well wide of goal.
The sending-off of Potts for a bad tackle looked to have handed Burton a lifeline
ROB NEWELL/CAMERASPORT VIA GETTY IMAGES
Summerville should have put the game out of sight for West Ham but he shot wide. At the other end West Ham continued to ride their luck, but they did enough in the end — just.
Burton (3-4-3): B Collins — U Godwin-Malife, T Vancooten, J Armer (J Moon 107min) — K Lofthouse, G Evans (K Chauke 74), S Krubally (J Larsson, 83), S Revan (T Sibbick 32) — J Beesley, JJ McKiernan (A Cannon 74), T Shade 7 (K Adom 83). Booked Collins, Adom.
West Ham (3-4-3): A Areola — K Mavropanos, M Kilman, E Mayers — K Walker-Peters, M Kanté (M Diouf 105), S Magassa, O Scarles (C Summerville 83) — A Traoré (V Castellanos 83) C Wilson (A Disasi 105), K Lamadrid 6 (F Potts 71). Booked Walker-Peters. Sent off Potts.
Referee L Smith. Attendance 6,514.