West Ham United came through a tricky challenge against League One side Gillingham in the FA Cup on Sunday evening, and after the match fans took to social media to express their pleasure at a summer signing.
The Hammers could easily have been viewed as a team who would be high up on the list of those who were ripe for an upset in the third round of the famous competition, especially after being dumped out of the Carabao Cup by Oxford United earlier in the season, but to their credit they showed their mettle and got the job done.
It wasn’t a vintage West Ham performance, but on a tough pitch in a tight and packed ground, it probably was never going to be that, but it was more than good enough to get the job done.
Pablo Zabaleta came off the bench to give the Hammers the lead in the second half, an advantage they deserved even though they didn’t impose themselves on the game quite as strongly as they would have liked.
Their passage into the fourth round was confirmed when summer signing Pablo Fornals was sent on by West Ham boss David Moyes, and it was he who got the second to wrap the tie up in injury time.
The Spaniard came on with 20 minutes to play and the score at 0-0, but the Hammers playmaker set up the opener for Zabaleta and then provided the clincher himself, in a thoroughly positive cameo.
Formals appears to be really impressing the West Ham faithful after a tricky start to life in England. He is beginning to influence more and more matches and the undoubted quality that he has is beginning to come out more often.
Hammers fans flooded onto Twitter to express their delight at the performances of their midfielder, with many waxing lyrical about his current form.
Here are some of their posts:
