Jarrod Bowen is back and West Ham are healing – David Moyes might yet save their season

Derby County 0-2 West Ham (Bowen 10′, Antonio 50′)

These were perfect conditions for a FA Cup tie: historically significant and now upwardly mobile League One team at home in an evening tie against a Premier League team with a fine squad but struggling to rediscover its identity. The winner knew that a trip to Manchester United would follow in the fifth round.

West Ham scored in the first ten minutes of one half and the first five minutes of the other. As against Everton in the Premier League last weekend, the victory that probably kept David Moyes in West Ham tracksuit bottoms and trainers, Jarrod Bowen was instrumental with his late runs into the box.

Bowen nudged the ball past Joe Wildsmith with the tip of his toes and then crossed for Michail Antonio to effectively seal the contest with almost half of the evening remaining. His funk was pronounced and troubling, but he has the industry of an assiduous ant and the talent was never in doubt.

If West Ham can allow Bowen the freedom to make penalty-box dashes and the support acts the chance to join him, this team will score more goals. Bowen has as many goals and assists in the last two games as he managed in the previous 23. He is back and so are his team; no coincidence.

The difference in class was not always a gulf, even if those 4,700 in the away end crowed about their dominance. It was viewed best not in the general pattern of the game, but in the moments. West Ham’s players were rarely caught in possession, but Derby’s were, forced into rushed passes or misguided adventures down blind alleys. It is that ability to make decisions and execute technically testing actions under pressure that separates best from rest.

To overcome those gaps, the underdog needs to get the basics right; Derby didn’t. Set-piece and open play crosses were overhit or delivered into Alphonse Areola’s gloves. Occasionally two extra touches or one extra pass were taken to slow down the risk to West Ham’s defence. Slowly, that breaks a team’s belief in upset. For the last 20 minutes, the visitors played with their opponent’s at an arm’s length and with a firm grip on the top of their head.

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Defeat will not dampen any spirit in these parts. A year before this tie, to the day, thousands of Derby County supporters marched from the city to the stadium ahead of a Championship fixture against Birmingham City. A club stood on the brink of extinction and this was the final gesture of defiance and vain hope. Days later, Derby were saved by David Clowes and Derby started its journey back from the cliff edge.

Championship football departed, Wayne Rooney and then Leroy Rosenior did too. But Paul Warne was a coup for a League One club and, after a sticky first month in charge, he has them geared for a spring assault on the top two. Before Monday, Derby had gone 19 games unbeaten since a 1-0 defeat at Ipswich in October. They have seen worse than cup defeat to a better team.

For West Ham, a season to save. Their tie at Manchester United will be most likely squeezed between an EFL Cup final and a trip to Anfield and that creates opportunity if relegation fear has been eased in the interim. David Moyes has been honest about his – and his players’ – difficulty in replicating league form that began to decline almost exactly 12 months ago. They are not fixed yet but, as their supporters went through the playbook of chants for each player over the final 15 minutes, signs of healing at least.

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