West Ham into Conference League final after Fornals finishes off AZ Alkmaar

When it was over most of the statistics pointed to a night of AZ Alkmaar dominance. They had more possession, more shots, more territory and more corners. Yet what AZ lacked was a way of making any of it count and, as hard as they tried to find a way through, it never seemed they were capable of stopping a dogged and professional West Ham from reaching their first European final in 47 years.

Ultimately, for all that their inability to guard possession made for an anxious second half, West Ham would succeed in grinding AZ down. There were, of course, some nervy moments and with 20 minutes remaining Declan Rice could be seen urging his leggy teammates to give it one last push.

Equally it never looked likely that Rice would end on the losing side. He has a plan, to sign off at West Ham by winning the Europa Conference League, and he will have his chance to do so in Prague on 7 June. Rice was outstanding. He was the first to run to Pablo Fornals when the substitute scored the stoppage-time goal that carried West Ham into the final. They were all off the bench and David Moyes, who has endured such a tough season, could dream of winning his first trophy as a manager.

West Ham began with a semblance of control after fighting back from a goal down to win the first leg. AZ had to take it away from them. There were whistles from the crowd as early as the 11th minute, the locals grumbling when Alphonse Areola took too long over a goal kick. AZ wanted the game to be frenetic and West Ham were ready to make it as frustrating as possible.

After all, the visitors did not have to be expansive and they could be reasonably satisfied with their start. They fell into rigid lines without the ball, squeezing the space and limiting AZ’s