3 efforts, 4 clearances, 7 long balls – £42k-a-week West Ham ace did Hammers fans proud tonight

Thu 30 September 2021 22:09, UK

West Ham United fans enjoyed a superb European night on Thursday as they ran out 2-0 winners over Rapid Vienna in the Europa League.

The Hammers were superb in their first European home game since 2016 as Declan Rice and Said Benrahma got the goals.

Rice opened the scoring in the 29th minute, finishing off Michail Antonio’s squared ball for his second European goal in two games.

West Ham had plenty of chances to put the game beyond the reach of Rapid, but they had to wait until second-half injury time to make the result safe.

Jarrod Bowen set up Benrahma, who brought the ball back onto his right foot and curled a low shot into the bottom corner.

It was a superb team effort, and one of West Ham’s unsung heroes on the night, Craig Dawson, was especially impressive.

The ace was great at both ends of the pitch, weighing in with several efforts and also keeping the Rapid attack at bay.

Dawson could’ve opened the scoring in the 27th minute, rattling the woodwork with a thumping header from Aaron Cresswell’s corner.

Indeed, on another day he could’ve had a hat-trick by the end of the first half, and he also did well to keep Ercan Kara at bay in the 38th minute.

According to , Dawson had 3 shots, won 3 aerials, made 2 interceptions and 4 clearances, and blocked 3 shots.

A great shift from Dawson, already one of the bargain buys in recent history at just £2million, and who is now impressing in Europe too.

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