By Chris Wright
Thomas Hitzlsperger marked his long-awaited debut and opened the scoring for West Ham against Burnley in the FA Cup Fifth round last night, firing home from the edge of the area with a trademark Hitzlsperger™ of a strike…
My, how West Ham could have done with a few more of those this season.
Anyway, the Hammers eventually ran out 5-1 winners courtesy of a brace from Carlton Cole (the first of which was one of the most unaesthetically-pleasing goals you will ever witness), a glancing header from Winston Reid and an injury-time Freddie Sears finish – with England U21 winger Jay Rodriguez notching the Claret’s consolation goal, rolling into an empty net after Rob Green had shanked a clearance directly into Tyrone Mears’ face with 20 minutes left to play.
West Ham will now advance to play Stoke in the quarter-finals, with the game scheduled to take place at the Britannia on March 12th.