Declan blown away by Kiddie

Declan Rice was blown away by the performance of Kidderminster Harriers in the fourth round of the FA Cup.

The non-league side were within a minute of pulling off one of the biggest upsets in the competition, after a goal from Alex Penny in the first-half.

West Ham were roundly awful throughout the game and needed the England international to drag the Irons into extra time and, eventually, into the next round of the cup.

Declan came on as a second-half substitute and scored the equaliser in the first minute of added time.

In extra time, Kidderminster were then within a few seconds of taking the Irons to penalties, but Jarrod Bowen broke Kiddie hearts with another last minute winner.

Speaking after the game, as per BBC Sport, Declan was full of praise for the National League North side, and said: “Massive, massive respect to Kidderminster. We watched some videos of them this week and they’ve been flying. You could see it on the bench with their manager. We weren’t at our best today and scraped it with two goals. They probably deserved it if I’m being honest. We need to improve if we want to push on but massive congratulations to them because they were excellent.

“The fans are on top of you and they will fight for every ball. It can be a shock to the system. We know what to expect but it’s hard to get to grips with,. They were in great shape, pressed hard and they made some great substitutions but we’re through to the next round so that’s the most important thing.”

The Hammers will have to put in a much improved performance against Watford this week when the Premier League returns.

 

About Dave Langton

A journalist with 10 years' experience of working on National newspapers, now chief reporter covering the club that I've loved since I was a boy. Upton Park remains the greatest football stadium ever built.