Farewell Boleyn: Ince beats Liverpool
I can remember being at the 1981 League Cup Final games, where yet again we payed above ourselves but again came up short.
Howev, on a November night back in 1988 West Ham faced Liverpool in a league cup tie in what was become one of the great Boleyn nights under the stars.
The Hammers had started the season poorly in the League but in the League Cup it was a different matter. We had only won two league games before that night yet had defeated Sunderland both home and away and Derby in a 5-0 mauling to progress to the fourth round against a top of the table Liverpool.
The star that night was undoubtedly Paul Ince, a boy from the Academy who just 21 and had already appeared 50 times for the Hammers before that night.
His heroics and two goals powered the Hammers past a stunned Liverpool to send us through to the next round after a 4-1 victory – our only victory against Liverpool in any competition between 1982 and 1995.
The other Hammers goals were courtesy of a bizarre Steve Staunton headed own goal and a Tony Gale top corner free kick, but the night belonged to Ince.
After defeating Villa in the Quarter Final the Hammers ran out of steam in the semis against Luton Town losing 3-0 at home and 2-0 away.
The season ended in more despair as we were relegated at the end of the season following with a 5-1 defeat at Anfield, it signalled the end of an era as John Lyall left the club following our demise, and perhaps West Ham have never been the same again.
Words by ClaretandHugh historian Nigel Kahn
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