Moyes admits West Brom were simply better after crashing out of FA Cup

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West Ham boss David Moyes expressed his disappointment with his side’s poor performance after admitting he picked a notably strong side because the game was at home.

Both West Ham and West Brom came into the encounter on the back of sketchy league form, with the fourth round match-up an opportunity for both teams to get back on track without the pressures of a relegation scrap or promotion push respectively.

It was the Baggies that took the opportunity, with Conor Townsend’s goal the deciding factor despite the visitors going down to 10 men after Semi Ajayi’s second-half dismissal for two bookable offences.

The defeat was a particular sour point for Scotsman Moyes, who made clear his intention to take the cup seriously.

Speaking to the BBC after his side’s defeat, Moyes said: “We put a strong team out. I was well aware it was a home tie so I wanted to try to make it work, but on the day we did not play well enough.

“We did not start the game well. We gave up opportunities in the early part of the game and they were better than us in the opening period and they got their goal in that time.

“We were a bit fortunate we did not concede another goal but we got through to half-time and I made a decision to make a few changes.

“I had seen too many poor passes, too many balls being kicked off the pitch and not enough good play. We had to attempt to get through or at least get a draw but we were not quite able to get there.


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“I think we had a lot of opportunities to have an attempt on target so sometimes you can take that stat slightly differently. We were in good positions to make it happen and we didn’t, but they were better.

“We were better in the second half but we could not quite manufacture a good cross or through pass so you have to give West Brom credit for that.

“If anything, their red card made it tighter, made it more difficult to get through.

“They did a good job but we had opportunities – one fell to Mark Noble, a really good chance, but apart from that we did not have loads of opportunities.”