{"id":52197,"date":"2022-01-04T18:00:17","date_gmt":"2022-01-04T18:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging28.planetswans.co.uk\/?p=52197"},"modified":"2022-01-03T16:23:41","modified_gmt":"2022-01-03T16:23:41","slug":"fa-cup-memories-swans-create-history-by-beating-west-ham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/2022\/01\/04\/fa-cup-memories-swans-create-history-by-beating-west-ham\/","title":{"rendered":"FA Cup Memories &#8211; Swans create history by beating West Ham"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The FA Cup Third Round.\u00a0 \u00a0For the romanticists amongst us it was always one of the most eagerly awaited fixtures on the footballing calendar.\u00a0 \u00a0As a fan of a club outside of the top two divisions you spend your time hoping that your presence will be rewarded with a tie against one of the big clubs.<\/p>\n<p>For the Swans it is no different and we have had many memorable third round ties.\u00a0 As we build up towards the home tie against Southampton this weekend we have five different third round ties to look back on so tune back in every day to take part in our trips down memory lane.<\/p>\n<p>In the second of our trips down memory lane we go back to 1999 and a famous Vetch Field night where the Swans became the first side from the bottom division to knock out a Premiership club.<\/p>\n<p><strong>FA Cup Third Round Classics &#8211; West Ham 1999<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Premier League (as it is known today) was formed at the start of the 1992-93 season as a breakaway of the &#8216;top&#8217; clubs from the football league and, as most things are in football now, was driven by money with the Big 5 at the time (Liverpool, Arsenal, Everton, Tottenham and Manchester United) creating something that would see TV money distributed only amongst the teams in that division.<\/p>\n<p>By the time the 1998\/99 season had come around, the Premiership was growing in popularity (and value) and when the Swans were drawn away to Premiership side West Ham, no side from the lowest division in the Football League had beaten a Premiership side in the FA Cup since its inception. That was until Swansea City created another little bit of football history.<\/p>\n<p>Having arrived in the Third Round with very credible wins over Millwall (3-0) and Stoke (1-0) at the Vetch, the Swans arrived in East London in confident mood backed by &#8211; as ever &#8211; a vocal support, but expected to exit the competition against their top flight opponents.<\/p>\n<p><strong>02 January 1999<br \/>\nWest Ham 1 Swansea 1<br \/>\nUpton Park, London<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"23 West Ham United v Swansea City, 02 January 1999\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/EyZHR5lIiJA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Attendance: 26,039<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-52198 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/staging28.planetswans.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/West-Ham-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"479\" height=\"319\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Biographer of Swansea City FC, David Farmer, said that \u2018had the Swansea supporters travelled to Upton Park believed all they read in the papers, they would not have bothered to go\u2019. Such opinions from experts however did not put off a small army of loyal supporters with high hopes travelling down to London. Despite being outnumbered, the Swansea fans were able to offer great vocal support which aided their team to unexpectedly outplay their famous opponents. Patriotism and pride was also displayed by the manager John Hollins who carried out his away match habit of placing a Welsh flag in his dugout. Unfortunately for the Swans, a Hammers equaliser that goalkeeper Roger Freestone could have prevented ending up in the back of the net made the score 1-1 at the dying stages cancelling out Jason Smith\u2019s earlier goal and denying them a famous win at Upton Park that their endeavours deserved.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-52199\" src=\"https:\/\/staging28.planetswans.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/West-Ham-2-323x480.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"323\" height=\"480\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>13 January 1999<br \/>\nSwansea City 1 West Ham 0<br \/>\nThe Vetch Field, Swansea<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/scfcheritage.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/02\/west-ham-1999-prog-cover.jpg?w=215\" width=\"215\" height=\"299\" \/><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=4oNK1fN5avg\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=4oNK1fN5avg<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Attendance: 10,116<\/p>\n<p>As had now become traditional there was a 10 day break for replays in the competition and it was on the night of 13 January 1999 that more than 10,000 crammed into the Vetch to watch that piece of FA Cup history being made.<\/p>\n<p>Providing an abundance of loud Welsh voices, the supporters created an intimidating atmosphere hoping to help carry their team on to a well fought win. Many fervent fans had queued outside the Vetch a week in advance eagerly hoping to get hold of match tickets. On the date of the game the rain had also lashed down upon the pitch all day providing the ingredients for a lively encounter. Harry Redknapp\u2019s West Ham was able to boast a team with a wealth of talented players which included the likes of Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard and also Swansea born John Hartson. Such big names however counted for nothing that night as Swansea produced another brave team performance and this time overcame the Premiership side.<\/p>\n<p>Both sides played fast paced football that was end to end creating an enthralling cup game. West Ham showed their Premiership qualities early on with Lampard in particular demonstrating his flair. However, it was Swansea midfielder Martin Thomas who was to be the man who made the headlines that night by producing a handful of impressive chances throughout the match, one being an in swinging free kick that rattled against the post. It was Thomas\u2019s next effort though that was able to put the Swans ahead against their London opponents. His goal came on the 29th minute through an outstanding volley from twenty yards out that swerved manically to trick Hammers goalkeeper Shaka Hislop who could do little to recover from his error and palmed the ball into his net.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-52202\" src=\"https:\/\/staging28.planetswans.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/West-Ham-3-MAIN-640x427.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" \/>The entire stadium erupted into a state of euphoria as Swansea demonstrated why the F.A. Cup can be so magic, with minnow clubs being given the opportunity to accomplish the unexpected by overcoming teams considered superior. Extraordinarily, Thomas was able to play despite being in pain from a broken knee cap caused by an earlier challenge. Freestone had to be at his best throughout and was able to make amends for his error at Upton Park by tipping away Neil Ruddock\u2019s vicious shot from outside the box late in the second half to preserve Swansea\u2019s slender lead.<\/p>\n<p>It was a save that Martin Thomas described as \u2018the best save\u2019 he had \u2018ever seen\u2019 and it brought two Swansea players to their knees in relief while the fans had their hearts in their mouths as they feared a repeat occurrence of the away tie. Despite West Ham\u2019s impressive work rate, they proved unable to break down a Swansea side that had played out of their skins and had defended valiantly to hold on to their lead.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-52200\" src=\"https:\/\/staging28.planetswans.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/West-Ham-4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"468\" height=\"347\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-52201 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/staging28.planetswans.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/West-Ham-5.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"468\" height=\"263\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The Swans run in the competition was ended 10 days later when another Premiership side &#8211; Derby County &#8211; triumphed at the Vetch thanks to a late goal from Kevin Harper but it will always be the name of the Swans that will be in the history books for the win and it will always be remembered as another momentous night under the Vetch Field floodlights.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"1998-99 - Swansea City 0 Derby County 1 - FA Cup\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/K6afj6wkBl0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>West Ham went onto finish 5th in the Premiership table that season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The FA Cup Third Round.\u00a0 \u00a0For the romanticists amongst us it was always one of the most eagerly awaited fixtures on the footballing calendar.\u00a0 \u00a0As a fan of a club outside of the top two divisions you spend your time hoping that your presence will be rewarded with a tie against one of the big [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[293,49,203],"tags":[689,608,719],"class_list":["post-52197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-first-team","category-news","category-opinion","tag-fa-cup","tag-the-2021-22-season","tag-west-ham-united"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52197\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}