West Ham reached the fourth round of the Carabao Cup with an unconvincing 1-0 win over Lincoln City that they just about deserved.
Tomas Soucek scored the only goal of the game, with his finish from Said Benrahma’s second-half corner proving the difference between the Premier League Hammers and League One side Lincoln at Sincil Bank.
As Lincoln tired late in the second half, spaces opened up for West Ham which simply weren’t there for the first half and much of the second. But the Irons were unable to add a second goal and scraped through in the end, courtesy of Soucek’s strike.
Dom Smith was at Sincil Bank to rate the West Ham performances…
Lukasz Fabianski — 8
Made a stupendous one-handed save to deny Reeco Hackett-Fairchild’s first-half header from point-blank range. Produced a couple of other stops too.
Thilo Kehrer — 7
Well balanced at right-back, bombing on, overlapping and helping out with defensive duties too.
Konstantinos Mavropanos — 6
Aerially dominant, as you would expect from a 6ft 4in striker. But the new signing from Stuttgart was not always composed on the ball.
Angelo Ogbonna — 6
Out-sprinted a few times as Lincoln eyed a cup run, but otherwise assured.
Ben Johnson — 7
One impatient shot just before half-time as West Ham got restless, but showed his pace as he carried the ball forward from defence on numerous occasions. Slammed the post late on.
Tomas Soucek — 6
Had a pretty poor first 70 minutes in midfield. Miss-controlled the ball a few times, was booked, but did — to his credit — then recover to steer West Ham into the fourth round.
Pablo Fornals — 6
Struggled to make things happen in the middle of the park for David Moyes’s frustrated side.
Mohammed Kudus — 7
Combined well with right-winger Maxwel Cornet and was bright throughout. The £38million signing from Ajax will become an important player for West Ham in the coming weeks.
Maxwel Cornet — 7
Like Kudus, tried to make things happen by turning his marker.
Said Benrahma — 7
Nice mazy foray into Lincoln’s final third early in the first half. Came into the match late on, assisting Soucek for the winner.
Danny Ings — 5
Rounded a defender with a good run before slotting wide from no more than eight yards out. Caught offside from a couple of poorly timed runs.
Subs:
Edson Alvarez (Fornals, 66’) — 6
Did well when he came off the bench.
Divin Mubama (Cornet, 66’) — 6
Desperate to impress Moyes, and had a few runs as Lincoln tired.
Subs not used: Anang, Coufal, Aguerd, Coventry, Casey, Marshall, Chesters
