West Ham enjoy Europa Conference League cruise past Cypriots

Already leading 2-0 from last week’s encounter at the AEK Arena–Giorgios Karapatakis, a 20th-minute strike from the recalled Gianluca Scamacca soon put the Hammers in total control of the tie during a first half in which Gustavo Ledes received his second red card inside four days.

And the 10 men of Larnaca were simply overwhelmed after the break following a quick-fire double-barrelled blast from Jarrod Bowen and a first-ever senior goal for substitute Divin Mubama which confirmed the 10th successive win in this season’s competition that also ensures the West Ham United ball goes into tomorrow lunchtime’s quarter-final draw.

Following on from last year’s UEFA Europa League adventure this comfortable victory means that the Hammers have now reached the last eight in European competition in back-to-back campaigns for the first time since 1966.

But having achieved that rare feat, David Moyes knows only too well that all thoughts of continental football must now be put on the back burner until mid-April, while the Scot concentrates on securing Premier League survival.

Indeed, with Sunday’s disappointing 1-1 draw with Aston Villa leaving his side in 17th spot – only outside the dreaded drop zone on goal difference – the West Ham boss made half a dozen changes as Scamacca, Manuel Lanzini, Pablo Fornals, Ben Johnson, Aaron Cresswell and skipper Angelo Ogbonna earned call-ups in place of substitutes Danny Ings, Saïd Benrahma, Declan Rice, Emerson Palmieri, Thilo Kehrer and Nayef Aguerd.

Justifying Scamacca’s omission from first-team action following his recovery from a New Year knee injury, Moyes had suggested at the weekend that the Italian’s technical data was below par for a Premier League recall.

Now handed a starting place for this Stratford return, the £35 million capture from Sassuolo looked determined to prove his manager wrong, immediately charging into the Cypriot defence before then sending an angled 25-yard thunderbolt across the face of both Kenan Pirić and the far post.

Lanzini also scuffed wide before Lucas Paquetá’s probing foray forward saw his final shot bravely charged down as the Hammers tried to find their way through the visiting rearguard.

Larnaca may have been defending stoutly but they were certainly yielding too much midfield possession and, indeed, on 20 minutes they paid a heavy price as West Ham broke the deadlock.

With Fornals picking up the pieces of a wayward Cypriot pass, the Spaniard sent Lanzini sprinting forward and, with Scamacca duly getting two giant slices of luck, the Hammers were ahead as skipper Mikel Gonzalez fluffed his lines with his attempted tackle leaving the nine-cap Italian to toe-poke a low eight-yarder through the equally red-faced Pirić.

After finishing in second spot in the Cypriot First Division, Larnaca had progressed to the championship play-offs, where they lost their opener to Apolion on Monday evening.

And, arriving in London following that one-goal defeat, José Luis Oltra also made six changes to his side that had finished with just nine men, with starters Nenad Tomović and Gustavo Ledes both having seen red.

Now trailing to that Hammers opener, the nomadic Spanish coach could have seen his side quickly concede a second but an offside flag prevented Scamacca from doubling his tally, while at the other end, the breaking Nemanja Nikolić was then denied an equaliser on the half-hour mark following a Video Assistant Referee review.

Having witnessed what would have been a shock equaliser chalked off, the relieved Hammers then set about putting more daylight between themselves and the visitors before the break and, indeed, on 37 minutes, only the woodwork prevented Paquetá from doubling their lead.
Racing onto Scamacca’s inch-perfect pass, the Brazilian danced his way back across the area and with the target now in sight, he curled an 18-yarder around a pack of defenders and onto the crossbar.

Larnaca may well have survived that let-off but with just two minutes of the opening period remaining, their mountainous task took on Everest-like proportions when Ledes followed up Monday night’s domestic dismissal with a European sending-off after a VAR review upgraded his yellow card to red for raking Fornals.

Indeed, it was always going to be a long second half for Larnaca’s 10 men and, within five minutes of the restart, it was game over after Bowen struck twice to end the tie as a contest.

On 47 minutes, an intricate, incisive passing movement saw Cresswell, Lanzini and Souček work the ball centrally from the left flank and, although, Pirić got down to parry Scamacca’s low 18-yarder, Bowen raced in to slot home the loose ball from a tight angle.

With one goal in the bag, Bowen wasted no time doubling his tally, now working the ball to Cresswell before ghosting into the area and meeting the return from the left-wing with a looping header that sailed over Pirić and inside the right-hand upright to claim his second goal of the night and 10th of the season.

Their night’s work done, goalscorers Bowen and Scamacca plus playmaker Paquetá retired just 10 minutes into the second period as Mubama, Maxwel Cornet and Danny Ings all stepped from the bench in the hunt for yet more goals.

An own-goal decision meant that Mubama had unluckily had his first-ever strike chalked off against FCSB in the group stages but after his debut disappointment in Bucharest, the substitute was now about to be all smiles in Stratford.

On 65 minutes, Cresswell sent over a deep corner which was nodded back across goal by Souček and with clever improvisation, the 18-year-old now bagged his first-ever senior goal with an audacious aerial back-flick.

The excitement was there for all to see and the former St Bonaventure’s schoolboy from Forest Gate then made an exuberant playground-like challenge on Nikos Englezou that saw him add a yellow card to his goal.

With Moyes continuing to put his faith in youth, the Academy of Football product was then joined by contemporaries Freddie Potts and debutant Levi Laing as Kurt Zouma and Souček sat out the closing stages watching the Hammers coast their way into tomorrow’s quarter-final draw.

West Ham United: Areola, Johnson, Cresswell, Zouma (Laing 67), Ogbonna, Lanzini, Souček (Potts 67), Paquetá (Cornet 54), Bowen (Mubama 54), Fornals, Scamacca (Ings 54). Unused subs: Hegyi, Anang, Benrahma, Kehrer, Aguerd, Emerson, Rice.

AEK Larnaca: Pirić, Gonzalez (Christoforou h/t),, Casas, Englezou, Tomović, Ledes, Mamas, Sanjurjo (Pons 66), Jakoliš (Altman 66), Naoum (Faraj 80), Nikolić (Lopes 66),  Unused subs: Toumpas, Stylianidis, Tričkovski, Miličević, Rosales, Andreou.

Booked: Mubama (67). Sent-Off: Ledes (43).

Referee: Georgi Kabakov (Bulgaria).