The sound of the Claret and Blue Army ringing in his ears at Gtech Community Stadium brought a smile to Łukasz Fabiański’s face.
West Ham United’s 2,500-strong travelling fans sang in support of their team throughout West Ham United’s Emirates FA Cup third-round tie at Brentford, and their vocal backing was rewarded with a first victory for their team in 65 days.
And a hard-fought victory it was too, as the Hammers withstood a Brentford team unbeaten in six Premier League matches, foul weather conditions and a testing playing surface to advance to the fourth round.
Saïd Benrahma took the headlines for scoring a spectacular winner against his former club, but it took an all-round team effort to secure a first win and first clean sheet in seven matches in all competitions – delighting Fabiański and, more importantly, those loyal supporters who braved wind, rain and a train strike to get to west London.
“They’ve been through a lot in the recent times, obviously in a negative way,” the No1 observed. “So, we’re happy they could have something positive to sing about. Hopefully there’ll be more games like that coming in the near future.”
Coming as it did, three days after a physically and mentally draining 2-2 Premier League draw at Leeds United, the 37-year-old is hoping the Hammers’ performances in their last two matches will be the start of an improved run of form and results as they seek to climb the table and advance in both the FA Cup and UEFA Europa Conference League in the coming weeks and months.
“For us, and the whole situation we’re finding ourselves in at the moment, it’s all about building confidence in every possible competition and every possible game,” continued Fabiański, who lifted the FA Cup with Arsenal in 2014. “That’s what we wanted to get out of [Saturday’s game]. Obviously, we wanted to advance in the cup, but the main thing was the performance and getting a result.”
One player whose performance was pivotal to the result at Brentford was former Bees winger Benrahma, who capped a virtuoso display off the substitutes’ bench with a wind-assisted winner eleven minutes from the end.
The Algerian picked the ball up following a strong challenge from Declan Rice on Pierre Wissa and had one thing in his mind, taking a touch before slamming a 25-yard shot past a helpless Thomas Strakosha in the Brentford goal.
While Fabiański had some sympathy with his opposite number, he welcomed the sight of the ball swerving and dipping past the Albanian stopper and into the net.
“It was tough for goalkeepers, especially with the conditions today,” he observed. “You could see that on the side where we scored the goal, I played there in the first-half and even when I was trying to do goal-kicks, the ball hardly reached the halfway line because the wind was against you. I think that helped us a bit but that’s sometimes the luck you need.”
That ‘luck’ means West Ham will travel to EFL League One side Derby County in the fourth round over the weekend of 27-30 January. A date, kick-off time and ticket details for the trip to Pride Park will be announced in due course.
