Antonio strikes against AZ Alkmaar to give West Ham chance of final step

It was scrappy, it was messy, but West Ham only saw the beauty. They celebrated wildly when Michail Antonio bundled the ball over the line in the second half, completing a turnaround few people had anticipated, and they could feel the anxiety fading away. The London Stadium had been a tense, moody place for most of the evening and now, with West Ham finally ahead, the home fans could dream of booking their tickets to Prague next month.

Nobody, of course, should make the mistake of thinking that West Ham are already through to the final of the Europa Conference League. They toiled for long spells against AZ Alkmaar, who led through a sloppy goal from Tijani Reijnders, and David Moyes will need his side to be resilient again when they take a 2-1 lead to the Netherlands for next week’s second leg.

The mind drifted back to West Ham conceding inside the first minute when they lost the first leg of their Europa League semi-final to Eintracht Frankfurt last year. They had to take better care of the details this time. They were on a high after their win over Manchester United, the ground bouncing at kick-off, and there was no chance of them allowing AZ to settle into their passing rhythm. Even the slightest hint of dithering from the visitors was taken by West Ham as a chance to press. Nothing summed it up more than Declan Rice pushing Jordy Clasie deeper and deeper down a dead end in the 20th minute, leaving the midfielder with no option but to turn and swipe an aimless clearance back to a claret and blue shirt.

West Ham’s captain was setting the tone and others followed suit. There was tenacity from Saïd Benrahma, the winger snapping into challenges in midfield, and it was not easy for AZ to play their way out. A pattern soon