A famous night for West Ham nearly turned sour on Thursday night, with a controversial red card and pitch invasions threatening to spoil their Europa League quarter-final against Lyon.
The Hammers were competing in the quarter-finals of a European competition for the first time this century, after an impressive run that has seen them defeat Sevilla and Dinamo Zagreb so far.
Jarrod Bowen's goal in a 1-1 draw leaves it all to play for next week in France, but it could have been so much better for them.
David Moyes spoke after his side's impressive rally, and said he was "baffled" by the idiocy of the pitch invaders.
West Ham: Rogue pitch invader ruins counter attack in Europa League quarter-final
West Ham did well to salvage a draw from their Europa League quarter-final first leg against Lyon, after left back Aaron Cresswell was controversially sent off in the first half.
The east London side even took the lead in the second half before being pegged back by Tanguy Ndombele's equaliser moments later.
The Hammers were left ruing what might have been, however. In the second half, with West Ham mounting a promising counter attack, an idiotic fan stormed the pitch and forced the game to be stopped.
The fan in question was the second to do so during Thursday's game, but he could hardly have picked a worse point to invade the pitch. The boos from the home crowd in response said it all.
Pitch invader when West Ham are on the attack... ban him for life and then some pic.twitter.com/BZ50CrgTrM
— Nick ⚒ (@usawhu2) April 7, 2022
West Ham could only muster three shots over the course of the game so for a fan to spoil a rare goalscoring chance for the team is ridiculous, to say the least.
Hammers boss David Moyes was not best pleased with the situation, saying:
I was baffled. This is a really good football club doing so many good things.
But those things tonight didn't help, we were on a counter-attack with an opportunity to score.
The pitch invasion was not the only incident that drew the ire of Moyes on Thursday night.
Aaron Cresswell's red card drew a fierce debate online about what constitutes a red card. The English left back was sent off for dragging back Moussa Dembelé, in a situation where Cresswell was deemed to be the last man back.
RED CARD! 🟥
Aaron Cresswell shown a straight red card for this challenge.
Terrible end to the first half for West Ham.
The wink from Dembele. 👀#WHULYO | #UEL pic.twitter.com/boEPJ35wQs— Virgin Media Sport (@VMSportIE) April 7, 2022
The red card for Cresswell came just before half-time. As the officials left the field at the break, Moyes was absolutely livid. The Scottish manager gave the referee and his officiating team a piece of his mind as they moved towards the tunnel.
Moyes spoke about Cresswell's red card to BT Sport after the game, and noted that a foul on Jarrod Bowen during the same sequence of play had been ignored.
For West Ham, a draw is still a good result, in their first European quarter final in over 40 years. The return leg in France takes place next Thursday - but Moyes will have to plan without his star left back for the crucial second leg.
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