Bowen grabs last-gasp winner as West Ham secure Conference League glory

Jarrod Bowen slid home a 90th-minute winner as West Ham United secured a last-gasp 2-1 victory over Fiorentina in the Europa Conference League final on Wednesday to clinch a first major European trophy in over half a century.

It was at the Mandarin Oriental hotel where West Ham United celebrated long into the night. When the party ends is anyone’s guess — some players were only heading for bed as other guests came down to breakfast this morning.

After beating Fiorentina 2-1 in the final of the Europa Conference League, courtesy of Jarrod Bowen’s 90th-minute winner, the squad were greeted by delighted travelling West Ham fans as they walked towards the entrance of their hotel in Prague. They have made themselves legends at the east London club by winning a first major trophy since 1980, with Declan Rice following in the footsteps of icons Bobby Moore and Billy Bonds by lifting silverware.

Even the usually reserved David Moyes lost the plot when Bowen’s winner hit the net — letting it all out in the celebrations by charging down the touchline. A move he regretted even while he was in motion.

“The minute Jarrod went through, I was edging down the touchline,” Moyes said. “If there was anybody I thought was going to score, it would be Jarrod. The minute he got through, I thought, ‘This is the moment, this is the one, Jarrod will do it’. I was probably halfway down the line but I couldn’t do a full (Jose) Mourinho because I can’t slide on my knees and the grass was a bit dry so I was worried I was going to go on my belly, so I just ran down.

“I would have to say it’s the best moment of my career. The moments you get to celebrate and have your family, with everyone here, and to win in the last two minutes of the game. And we did it in Alkmaar the other week as well to get into the semi-final. That doesn’t happen often. Sometimes it goes against you. This is a great feeling.”

Back at the hotel, Alphonse Areola, the goalkeeper-turned-DJ for the night, held a speaker aloft as Gala’s Freed From Desire blared out, and Moyes was playing a full part. The proud players made their way into the foyer, winners’ medals swinging around their necks. They started singing Bowen’s terrace chant and were joined by other supporters, members of Moyes’ backroom staff and Mark Noble, the team’s long-time captain and talisman, now their sporting director.

“I thought I was going to cry, I’m just so happy,” said Bowen. “I dreamed of scoring, but to score the winner in the last minute… to do it in front of these fans… I can’t put it into words. We haven’t had the best season (see table below), myself included, but to do what we have done tonight for these fans, it’s incredible.”

It was a night of huge significance, not least for Moyes, Bowen, and the club’s Czech players, Vladimir Coufal and Tomas Soucek.

Other than the Community Shield he won on his official debut as Manchester United manager in 2013, this was Moyes’ first trophy since Preston North End were champions of English football’s third tier in 1999-2000. The Scot embraced his 87-year-old father, David Senior, who has had such a huge impact on his playing and managerial career, on the touchline and gave him his medal to wear.

Bowen, a new dad to twins, scored with his father, Sam; brother, Harry; and best friend Lewis in attendance. Coufal and Soucek, who both used to play in this same stadium for Slavia Prague, fulfilled their prophecy by winning this final on home soil — their aim at the start of the season.

The dressing room was so loud afterwards that Moyes struggled to give his celebratory speech. But his best moment happened moments before as he paraded the trophy in front of the West Ham supporters, some of whom had wanted him sacked earlier in the season. How times change as the former Everton, Manchester United, Real Sociedad and Sunderland manager received a great reception before and after the game. Considering the mounting pressure he was under before securing West Ham’s Premier League safety, the win against Fiorentina shows David Sullivan and the board were right to bring him back for a second spell in December 2019 and to stick with him this season.

“He came in, saved us (midway through the 2017-18 campaign), he came back and saved us, he got us to Europe twice in a row and then won us that (the trophy) — he’s probably our best manager ever,” said Rice. “He got every call right tonight.”

Moyes’ staff also believed West Ham could exploit the space Biraghi would leave when in an advanced position with Bowen’s pace, even if Fiorentina tried to cover the gap with left centre-back Nikola Milenkovic.

Like so much of this memorable run to winning the Conference League, it was a plan that worked to perfection, with a last-gasp Bowen winner that will go down in history.

F-Tv International