LONDON, England – Reggae Boy Michail Antonio netted a second-half goal and a spot-kick, but English top-flight side West Ham United bowed out in the third round of the League Cup as Championship outfit Blackburn Rovers won 10-9 in an epic penalty shootout at London Stadium.
With West Ham 15th in the Premier League and Blackburn second in the Championship, both managers opted to change their entire starting 11s from their previous matches.
The 32-year-old Antonio appeared to strike the crucial blow when he put the Hammers – who have never won the competition – 2-1 up with a low shot on 78 minutes, but Chile international Ben Brereton Diaz’s 88th-minute equalizer took the game to penalties as the game ended 2-2 after regulation on Wednesday night.
Antonio scored West Ham’s fourth kick – a right-footed shot to the bottom-left corner – and 19 penalties in all were scored then.
With only the goalkeepers still to take a spot-kick, Angelo Ogbonna became the only player to miss, hitting the crossbar as the Hammers were eliminated and Blackburn advanced.
Blackburn had taken the lead after only six minutes through Jack Vale’s calm finish, before Pablo Fornals levelled on 38 minutes.
Blackburn won the League Cup in 2002 and are now on their best run in the competition since 2011-12, when they reached the quarter-finals. The draw for the last 16 was scheduled to take place on Thursday, following the final third-round tie between Manchester United and Aston Villa at Old Trafford, which Manchester United won 4-2.
Antigua and Barbuda forward Rhys Browne notched his ninth goal of the campaign as visitors Woking defeated Bromley 2-0 at Hayes Lane to move up to fourth place in the fifth-tier National League.
Both Woking goals came from substitutes.
Having come on just after the interval, Reece Grego-Cox put the Cardinals in front on 58 minutes when the ball reached him from Josh Casey’s corner. Grego-Cox then turned provider as Browne doubled the lead with a 77th-minute finish, 12 minutes after he came on.
Darren Sarll’s Woking leapfrogged Solihull into fourth with their third victory on the spin, while Andy Woodman’s Bromley – winless in six games – remained 10th.
-CMC
