Jarrod Bowen spares West Ham’s blushes as Kidderminster suffer late heartache

Jarrod Bowen saved West Ham from humiliation after they avoided a mammoth FA Cup upset at Kidderminster.

The forward struck with virtually the last kick of extra time as the Hammers, wretched for most of the game, sealed a barely deserved 2-1 win.

They needed Declan Rice’s injury-time leveller to force extra time just as it looked like National League North side Kidderminster would off an almighty fourth-round shock.

Alex Penny had given the heroic hosts a first-half lead after terrible Hammers defending.

Harriers, 113 places below the Premier League visitors, deserved so much more after nearly writing themselves into FA Cup folklore with one of its biggest upsets.

Kidderminster went toe-to-toe with the Hammers who narrowly avoided an embarrassing defeat and one of the worst in their history.

Directionless, passionless and aimless they had no hiding place until Rice and Bowen bailed them out.

David Moyes was part of the Preston team dumped out of the FA Cup in 1994 which paved the way for Kidderminster’s last meeting with the Hammers.

Then, Harriers gave West Ham a scare before losing 1-0 in the fifth round and Moyes gave the hosts due respect by naming a strong side.

But it mattered little during an awful first-half performance which was littered with errors.

Ben Johnson drilled over after six minutes and that was as good as it got before Sam Austin, one of the scorers in Kidderminster’s third-round win over Reading, shot too close to Alphonse Areola from the edge of the box.

It proved the hosts would find openings and Ashley Hemmings was the next to try, although his tame effort was easily gathered by Areola.

The Hammers were unnerved, though, and lost rhythm – meaning it was less of a surprise when Harriers grabbed a