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Back in 2004, readers of KUMB.com voted for their greatest West Ham moments.

With several years having passed since - during which we've witnessed a number of memorable occasions, matches and goals - we decided to revisit the list - for a second time (the first being in 2011) - in order to include some more recent events.

Due to the vast size, we'll be breaking our countdown down into ten parts; here follows part nine - that's entries 20 to 11. Please note the number in brackets represents the entry's previous position in our list.







It had been 83 years since West Ham had lost an FA Cup Final. Since losing 2-0 to Bolton in 1923 the Hammers had overcome Blackburn, Preston, Fulham and Arsenal to lift the Cup in the shadow of the Twin Towers. However all those games had taken place at Wembley - unlike the 2006 Final between West Ham and Liverpool, which was being staged at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium as the old Empire Stadium had been reduced to rubble in order to be replaced by a new, state-of-the-art venue.

West Ham, only promoted from the Championship via the play-offs the season before had beaten Norwich, Blackburn, Bolton, Manchester City and Middlesbrough en route to Cardiff, where they would play for the third season in succession.

Massive underdogs on the day, Alan Pardew''s side found themselves 2-0 up within half-an-hour; A Jamie Carragher own goal and another from Dean Ashton after Reina fumbled had put Alan Pardew's side in total command. However the two-goal cushion was to last for just four minutes as Djibril Cisse pulled one back for Liverpool, which is how it remained until the break.

When Steven Gerrard equalised for the favourites on 54 minutes most of the attending Hammers faithful agreed that we'd blown our chance - that was until Paul Konchesky's cross sailed over a shocked Pepe Reina's head into the back of the net to put United back in front with 64 minutes on the clock.

West Ham were less than a minute away from winning the Cup when Gerrard fired home his second from some 30 yards; many still blame Lionel Scaloni for his poor clearance that led to the goal. That's how it stayed throughout extra time - the injured Marlon Harewood may have won it for the Hammers had he been able to meet Yossi Benayoun's cross - and Liverpool breezed the ensuing penalty shootout. The game is widely considered to be one of the best FA Cup Finals in the competition's history.




There have been some notoriously awful refereeing performances in West Ham's fixtures over the years, but none will ever match the inept efforts of a certain Keith Hackett who was charged with overseeing second division United's 1991 FA Cup semi-final against first division Nottingham Forest.

Midway through the opening half, Gale - who received only seven yellow cards in his entire 21-year professional career - tripped Forest's Gary Crosby somewhere around the halfway line as the winger attempted to burst beyond West Ham's defensive line - a reasonably innocuous foul in the grand scheme of things.

Yet to the surprise and astonishment of Gale and everybody else packed inside a full-to-bursting Villa Park, Hackett delved into his pocket before producing a red card. The ensuing protests were ignored and in vain - and the Hammers were left to play with only ten men for the remainder of the match.

That Billy Bonds' side kept the game goalless until the break was testament to their courage and endeavour, although their luck was to last for just four minutes after the teams returned for the second period. Crosby scored the first of four second half goals as Forest ran amok - unsurprisingly perhaps, given their opposition were from a division below and left with a numerical disadvantage - although the real story of the day was to emerge well away from the playing area.

After Stuart Pearce had made it 3-0 to Forest with 20 minutes to go, a not unusual rendition of, "Billy Bonds' claret and blue army" began to ring out from the West Ham end of the ground as Irons fans, resigned to the inevitable defeat that was to follow, began to pay homage to their heroes. Unique however was that this particular outburst of singing was to last for the remainder of the match which left both commentators and the following days' newspapers praising Hammers' fans for their unrelenting, noisy support - something which has never quite been equalled in the UK on the terraces to this day.




Few people alive today will have had the pleasure of watching Charlie Bicknell play for West Ham United. But his name shall forever be associated with club folklore, for he was the first Hammer to lift a Cup at Wembley when West Ham beat Blackburn Rovers in the 1940 FA War Cup.

With the FA Cup and regular Football League programme suspended due to the ongoing Second World War, the Football Association replaced the knockout competition with the War Cup. West Ham's path to Wembley had included defeats of Chelsea, Leicester City, Huddersfield Town, Birmingham City and Fulham and they lined up against underdogs Rovers in front of just over 42,000 spectators (for a 6:30pm kick off), many of whom were soldiers recovering from wounds inflicted by the conflict.

The only goal of the game came from ambulance-builder Sam Small, who pounced on George Foreman's shot that had been spilled by 'keeper Jim Barron after 34 minutes. At the end of a fiercely-fought contest, Bicknall climbed the famous thirty nine steps to claim the trophy - and it was to be another 24 years before Bobby Moore emulated the full back when Ron Greenwood's side beat Preston.




For the second time in 11 years the Hammers - this time under the guidance of John Lyall - had fought and battled their way to the Final of the Cup Winners' Cup. But whereas in 1965 West Ham had enjoyed home advantage with the match staged at Wembley, this time it was opponents Anderlecht with the upper hand as the final was held at Belgium's Heysel Stadium - later to become infamous as the venue where 39 Juventus supporters lost their lives.

In front of a mostly partisan 58,000 crowd - which nonetheless included several-thousand Hammers who had made the short ferry trip across the English Channel - United took the lead through Patsy Holland. Having fallen 2-1 behind, Keith Robson drew West Ham level before man of the match Robbie Rensenbrink made it 3-2 from the penalty spot.

Frankie van der Elst - who was to sign for the Hammers six years later - ended the game as a contest with a fourth goal five minutes from time. Still, most agreed that it had been a fantastic adventure following trips to Finland, the old USSR, the Netherlands and Germany - even though the journey ultimately ended on a sour note.




West Ham had been languishing in the old Second Division since having been relegated in 1932. At the time, there was little to suggest that the Hammers deserved to be anywhere else having spent just eight years of their existence playing in the nation's top flight during the 1920s and early '30s - although that was all about to change.

Manager Ted Fenton, in place since 1950 having replaced Charlie Paynter was beginning to see the fruits of his labour materialise after he instigated what amounted to the club's first successful youth Academy. Although Fenton's youngsters were beginning to make an impression by 1957 - an appearance in the FA Youth Cup Final, a second successive Southern Junior Floodlit Cup win and strong performances in continental competitions all contributed to their growing reputation - it was upon a couple of imports that Fenton relied to drive his side to unexpected promotion in 1958.

John Dick and Vic Keeble relocated from Glasgow and Colchester (via Newcastle) respectively, but between them scored 40 goals to help fire West Ham towards Division 1 in 1957/58 - with able assistance from 30-year old Billy Dare (14 goals) and 18-year-old local boy John Smith (11 goals).

On 26th April 1958, Fenton's Hammers travelled to Middlesbrough knowing victory would guarantee a return to the top flight - although Blackburn, Charlton and Liverpool were snapping at their heels. In front of a capacity crowd of 30,000 Keeble and Dick both struck - as did Malcolm Musgrove (a tough ex-squaddie from Northumberland) - to give West Ham a 3-1 win that not only guaranteed the club Division One football for the first time since the Second World War, but also the club's first Football League trophy as Division Two Champions.




The passing of England's greatest ever captain Bobby Moore at the age of just 51 - a victim of bowel cancer - shocked an entire nation. When his criminally-early death was announced in late February 1993, thousands of football supporters from across the nation made the pilgrimage to Upton Park in order to lay wreaths, football shirts, poems and verse or any kinds of paraphernalia associated with Moore, England or West Ham at the gates of the Boleyn Ground.

It was the kind of scene which is commonplace these days with public grieving being far more socially acceptable. But back in the early 1990s, prior to the mass-mourned death of Princess Diana the response to Moore's passing was an extraordinary and unique occurrence.

Green Street turned into a shrine to West Ham and England's number six, whose part in the nation's 1966 World Cup win had ensured he remained in the heart of every English football fan. The first game following his death, against Wolves, was preceded by the placing of a huge wreath in the centre circle by Bobby's fellow World Cup-winning Hammers team mates Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters. Moore's better-known number six shirt (he often wore number five during his early years) was finally retired for go od in 2008 following a supporters' campaign.




It was the dawn of a new era. A newly-professional West Ham United had risen from the ashes of the disbanded Thames Ironworks FC, the works football club established by Old Harrovian Arnold Hills five years earlier in 1895.

United's first fixture in the 1900/01 Southern League First Division campaign was against Gravesend, a match played in front of 2,000 supporters at Plaistow's Memorial Ground - one of a number of venues the club called home before finally settling at the Boleyn Ground in 1904 - where the club would remain for the next 112 years.

The day - 1st September 1900 - belonged to William Grassam, who scored four of West Ham's seven goals a nd in doing so, be came the club's first player to record a hat-trick. Also getting in on the act were James Reid (with two goals) - a Scot like Grassam who also arrived at United via Burslem Port V ale - and Yorkshire-born Fergus Hunt. The 7-0 win was the club's biggest win of the season - and one that has rarely been bettered since.




Just four days before Alan Pardew's side were scheduled to face Middlesbrough in an FA Cup semi final at Villa Park on 23rd April 2006, West Ham United were rocked by the news that legendary manager John Lyall had died following a heart attack.

The effervescent Lyall, who was just 66, had managed West Ham for 15 years between 1974 and 1989, having first joined the club as a youth played in 1955. His record - arguably the most successful of any Hammers manager in history - included two FA Cup wins, a Cup Winners Cup Final appearance and a third-place finish in Division One, during the 1985/86 season, the club's best-ever top flight finish. His passing was a double blow to the club who had lost Lyall's mentor, Ron Greenwood, just two months earlier.

The day therefore promised to be an emotionally-charged affair for West Ham and its supporters even before it was decided that the match would be preceded by a minutes' silence in honour of Lyall. Pardew, never one to miss a trick had already declared that his team would, "pay tribute to John's memory in a fitting manner" when taking on 'Boro, adding that the supporters would do the same. Which is exactly what happened, although nobody could have possibly envisaged the manner in which it did.

As the two teams lined up around the perimeter of the centre circle ahead of the planned silence, a deadly hush arose around the ground. Referee Mike Riley blew his whistle to announce the beginning of the tribute - but after just a few seconds, the silence was broken by a lone voice from the West Ham end. Brave, stupid or otherwise, a slow, mournful rendition of "Johnny Lyall's claret and blue army" was the individual's refrain - and within seconds, nearly all of the West Ham fans present had joined in to salute their former manager.

The West Ham bench looked at each other not knowing quite how to respond and the 'Boro fans, not understanding what was happening began to boo. Consequently Riley blew his whistle some 20 seconds early. However that failed to detract from what was the most spontaneous and heartfelt tribute to Lyall that the club's supporters could have conjured up.

One suspects the amiable Lyall would have afforded himself a wry smile at what was a most unique and spectacular tribute. There is no question he would've been delighted when Marlon Harewood scored the only goal of the game that sent West Ham through to the Final for the first time since Lyall's team beat Arsenal in one of the competition's greatest upsets 26 years earlier.




Seven months prior to the 1981 League Cup Final, John Lyall's FA Cup winners had been beaten 1-0 by league champions Liverpool in the Charity Shield, although the defeat had been far more comprehensive than the scoreline suggested. A similar outcome was therefore expected when West Ham, flying high at the top of Division 2 met the soon-to-be European Cup winners on a sunny day at Wembley in mid-March.

Following a deeply disappointing 90 minutes in which both teams mostly cancelled each other out, the game finally erupted into life with just three minutes of extra time remaining. Alan Kennedy's shot beat Phil Parkes but despite an offside Sammy Lee clearly obstructing the goalkeeper's view, referee Clive Thomas allowed the goal to stand (much to the fury of John Lyall who, quite out of character, was later sanctioned for a post-match outburst in which he was critical of the controversial Welsh official).

Most inside Wembley thought that was game over - but West Ham had other ideas. With seconds remaining, Alvin Martin's goalbound header produced the save of the season from Terry McDermott. Unfortunately for Liverpool McDermott was an outfield player, hence Thomas had little choice but to point to the spot.

Wembley held its breath as 21-year-old Ray Stewart strode towards the spot, before placing his spot kick to Ray Clemence's right and earn Lyall's Second Civision Hammers a most unexpected replay at Villa Park. Sadly the second tie proved too much for West Ham, who went down 2-1 on the night despite having taken an early lead through Paul Goddard.




A fiery 1980 FA Cup semi final that saw Everton finish the game with only ten men after Brian Kidd has seen red for squaring up to Ray Stewart ended in a stalemate after Kidd's first half penalty - conceded by Alan Devonshire - has been cancelled out by Stuart Pearson' late equaliser at Villa Park.

That, combined with Bryan Hamilton's late strike being disallowed by Clive Thomas meant the two teams were to meet again at Elland Road four days later for the replay, with the suspended Kidd replaced by Imre Varadi. As was often the case at the time, John Lyall's second division side were the underdogs - with many commentators being of the opinion that the Irons had blown their best chance of meeting Arsenal in the Final having failed to dispose of the Merseysiders in the first match.

Yet with 90 minutes played - during which Billy Bonds had emerged as something of a defensive colossus having almost single-handedly kept the Hammers in the tie with a wonderful display - there was still nothing between the two teams as the replay entered extra time.

With both sides visibly flagging after their second highly-charged meeting inside 96 hours, mistakes were inevitable and four minutes after the restart, Alan Devonshire took advantage of some lax defending by the opposition to put West Ham ahead on the night and for the first ti time in six years.

Trevor Brooking's deep cross into the penalty box was nodded back into the centre by David Cross, who was to play a pivotal role at Wembley a month later. Out of nowhere, right back Frank Lampard - who had stayed up following an attack moments earlier - dived forwards to head towards goal. Toffee's 'keeper Martin Hodge appeared to have it covered, but Lampard's header took a single bounce before the ball, almost in slow motion, bounced over the line before nestling itself in the corner of the net.

Without doubt the most important of the 22 goals he scored during his 674-game career, Lampard raced away towards the far corner flag before dancing a merry and impromptu jig around the corner flag. The celebration spawned a famous terrace chant, sung to the tune of Bing Crosby's 'White Christmas' - and Frank secured his place in West Ham folklore as a result.




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