The grim business of collecting league points, the priority of both clubs, crowded in on this minor cup convulsion. When the dust settled, it showed that West Ham have the resources to win promotion. It also showed why Norwich are gambling on a young striker to save their English Premiership status.

Alan Pardew was deprived of seven senior players, raising the pressure on West Ham's manager another notch after Monday's dismal home defeat by Sheffield United. His makeshift team demonstrated the vigour and spirit that cup occasions demand. Not so Norwich City, whose manager Nigel Worthington was unusually damning: "We did the competition a disservice."

In the £2.25 million striker Dean Ashton Norwich hope they have found a solution. In the match winner, Marlon Harewood, West Ham may have a problem. His goal will have surely raised his stock.

"We're desperate to hold on to him," said Pardew of his 13-goal leading scorer. So much so that West Ham's manager has fended off an offer "in the region of" £3 million last week for the striker.

Harewood deserved his late goal, if only for his effort in playing largely as the lone striker in front of Sergei Rebrov, who seems still to have failed to find his bearings in English football.

The critical service was provided by the highly energetic Luke Chadwick, whose surge down the right and low cross was driven home by Harewood, timing his run cleverly, from close range.

So West Ham seized one of their few clear-cut chances. Norwich, repeating their Premiership profligacy, wasted their bigger share. Worthington did not even offer the excuse of the injuries which forced the midfielder Mattias Jonson, complete with head bandage, to play as a striker in the first half.

"We give value for money," he said. "We work very hard and like to play good football. But I didn't see that today. West Ham were up for the cup and we weren't.

"We've done the competition a disservice and that's something that hurts me because I love this competition."

Guardian Service