Thursday night’s UEFA Europa League quarter-final second leg at Lyon could barely have gone any better for West Ham United.
The east Londoners recorded a magnificent 3-0 victory to secure a 4-1 aggregate success, with Craig Dawson central to our success – at both ends of the pitch.
After making a crucial block from Houssem Aouar with the score at 0-0, Dawson ventured to the other box to meet Pablo Fornals’ 38th minute corner with a towering header.
It set the Hammers on their way, and just ten minutes of play later – either side of half-time – the visitors were 3-0 up.
Dawson and the team were able to see out the rest of the game without alarm and write their names in history, setting up a first European semi-final for the Club in 46 years.
“It went perfectly to plan and it was a great team performance,” the No15 beamed at full-time.
“Getting the goal settled the lads’ nerves and credit to them, they put in a great shift and it’s an unbelievable result.”
Lyon made a fast start to the game, with Karl Toko Ekambi striking the post early on, but Dawson’s header silenced the Parc Olympique Lyonnais crowd and had the 2,800 travelling fans in dreamland.
Equally important was the defender’s work at the back, who marshalled a backline missing regulars Aaron Cresswell, Kurt Zouma and Angelo Ogbonna, and was full of praise for his defensive colleagues Issa Diop, Vladimír Coufal and Ben Johnson.
“It was obviously important to quieten the crowd and it made it a great start to the game for us,” he added.
“It was great to keep the clean sheet. Credit to the boys who came in. It’s a fantastic night and I’m so pleased for the lads.
“It’s absolutely massive for us. The lads have worked ever so hard to get to this stage, so exciting times ahead and credit to the boys.“
