Soucek sees Hammers past Imps in Carabao Cup

But on a blustery, stormy night, the disjointed Hammers looked more like an all-stations stopper than a Premier League express train, relying on Tomás Souček’s 70th-minute match-winner to finally send the impish Imps into the buffers.

With Saturday’s Premier League clash against Sheffield United plus next week’s UEFA Europa League clash at SC Freiburg looming on the horizon, David Moyes predictably made sweeping changes to his side after Sunday’s 3-1 reverse at Liverpool.

Indeed, following the defeat at Anfield that left the Hammers in seventh spot, tellingly, only Souček had retained a starting jersey as Danny Ings led the attack supported by Mohammed Kudus and Saïd Benrahma, while Northern Ireland youth international striker, Callum Marshall was named on a youthful-looking bench for the first time.

With just 11 minutes on the clock, that trio of Hammers attackers almost combined to give their side a high-speed start but after capitalising on Sean Roughan’s slip, Kudus unselfishly squared to Ings, who was thwarted by Lukas Jensen’s brave dive into his studs before the home keeper then denied Benrahma with his legs a split-second later.

Two-time finalists West Ham had last played at Lincoln back in November 1982, when they drew 1-1 in the League Cup third round before winning the replay 2-1 at the Boleyn Ground.

Colin Murphy had been manager back then and, following his sad passing in mid-September, some four decades on, a minute’s hearty applause resounded around all four corners of the sold-out ground for the much-loved, Lincoln legend.

Having acknowledged Jensen’s early double save, the Imps fans were then clapping striker Reeco Hackett-Fairchild, who sent a low 20-yarder into the clutches of Łukasz Fabiański, making his first-ever Carabao Cup appearance for the Hammers.

Sitting in 13th spot in League One – some 50 rungs below the Hammers on the domestic ladder – the Imps had lost 2-1 at table-topping Portsmouth on Saturday and, following that loss, manager Mark Kennedy made two changes with Alex Mitchell and Alistair Smith replacing substitutes Adam Jackson and Ted Bishop.

With Lincoln battling, bumping and baulking for every single ball, the underdogs also forced two corners without reply and, on 26 minutes, they thought they had got their noses in front, when Mitchell bundled home after the visitors failed to deal with Hakeeb Adelakun’s enormous, long-throw into the danger-zone. But an offside flag came to the rescue of Moyes’ boys.

“Premier League? You’re having a laugh,’ chanted the City fans in the crowd of 10,168 clearly pleased with their side’s efforts to date.

“Champions of Europe, you’ll never sing that,” came the reply from the 1,836 travelling East Enders.

Ten minutes before the break, Kudus forced West Ham’s first corner of the evening and, having seen Jensen tip his awkward flag-kick over the bar, Maxwel Cornet then forced the Lincoln goalie to turn his low 18-yarder around the base of his left-hand post.

With an even opening half drawing to a close, both sides had great opportunities to take an interval advantage but when Smith sent a pinpoint, left-wing centre towards the far post, Fabiański produced an acrobatic save to beat Hackett-Fairchild’s point-blank header high into the Lincolnshire night.

But the best chance again fell to Ings who, having broken into the Imps penalty area, sat Jensen on his backside before inexplicably scuffing wide from all of eight yards ahead of receiving ironic jeers from supporters, both home and away.

Just after the restart, Lasse Sørensen advanced forward and sent a rising 25-yarder over the top and, with swirling rain now sweeping across the stadium, the over-enthusiastic Hackett-Fairchild saw his wind-assisted effort sail towards the neighbouring postcode.

By now, conditions were resembling a wintry Sunday morning on Hackney Marshes as Ethan Hamilton sent a corner whipping across goal and, with West Ham already making heavy weather of this tie, they really were finding themselves playing straight into the jaws of the unwelcome, albeit anticipated Storm Agnes, too.

With the hour-mark approaching and the Hammers still running down blind alleys, the Hammers fans were clamouring for substitute Divin Mubama and, after Souček was booked for scything down Hamilton, they soon got their wish.

On 66 minutes, Moyes made a double-switch as the rookie striker and Edson Álvarez replaced Cornet and the hitherto anonymous Pablo Fornals.

Having shuffled his pack, the grateful Moyes did not have to wait too long to see that change come up trumps for, within just four minutes of his arrival, Álvarez’s long-ranger was deflected for a corner, which Benrahma duly floated towards the near post, where the unchecked Souček escaped his markers to finally side-foot West Ham ahead.

In reply, substitute Dylan Duffy was denied an equaliser thanks to Fabiański’s full-length save, while at the other end Kudus was thwarted by Jensen, but in the end it was Souček’s strike that would prove enough to put the West Ham United ball into the fourth-round draw.

LINCOLN CITY: Jensen, O’Connor, Mitchell, Roughan, Sørensen, Burroughs, Hamilton, Hackett-Fairchild (Duffy 77), Erhahon, Smith (Bishop 77), Adelakun (Makama 77). Unused subs: Wright, Brown, Jackson, Eyoma.

WEST HAM UNITED: Fabiański, Johnson, Kehrer, Ogbonna, Mavropanos, Souček, Fornals (Álvarez 66), Cornet (Mubama 66), Kudus, Benrahma, Ings. Unused subs: Anang, Coufal, Aguerd, Coventry, Casey, Marshall, Chesters.

Booked: Souček (64), O’Connor (74).

Referee: Josh Smith.

Attendance: 10,168.