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Slav happy to take them back to our place

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BilicberrySlaven Bilic congratulated his squad on a clean sheet and claimed they deserved the replay against Liverpool on the basis of their defensive display but was disappointed we lacked that killer edge in the final third.

The manager told BT Sport immediately after the game: “I have to be happy with a replay and I have congratulated the players. It’s always tough to keep a clean sheet but we just needed a more penetrating ball at the other end.”

He revealed that James Tomkins had had 13 stitches inserted into a head would after a collision with Joe Allen and admitted that the quick injuries to him and Cheik Kouyate had maybe disrupted the Irons .

He said: “Kouyate felt something and it got a little worse so we took him off as a precaution and believe he’ll be ready for Tuesday night (Aston Villa).”

He added: “Nobody wanted a replay  but we’ll take it and get them back to Upton Park.”

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Hugh Southon is a lifelong Iron and the founding editor of ClaretandHugh. He is a national newspaper journalist of many years experience and was Bobby Moore's 'ghost' writer during the great man's lifetime. He describes ClaretandHugh as "the Hammers daily newspaper!"

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