West Ham 2-1 Anderlecht: Bowen and Benrahma see Hammers through

William Furness
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Said Benrahma and Jarrod Bowen's first-half goals were enough to secure West Ham's victory
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West Ham confirmed their place in the Europa Conference League knockout stage after a 2-1 win against Anderlecht.

Said Benrahma curled in a lovely free-kick with only 14 minutes on the clock and the hosts doubled their advantage in the 30th minute when Jarrod Bowen unleashed a thunderous strike past goalkeeper Hendrik Van Crombrugge.

With a couple of minutes left, Sebastiano Esposito converted from the spot but the Irons held out to secure a deserved three points. 

The win means David Moyes' side only require one point from their remaining two games to achieve top spot which will book a direct route to the last 16. 

Bowen grabbed West Ham's second goal of the night and he reflected on the team's performance. 

He said: "There was a sense of control for us. Obviously with them getting the penalty late on it's always a bit nerve-racking for the last five minutes.

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"But we hung in there and all in all we had a lot of control, and created a lot of chances so we'll take the victory for sure."

Bowen also heaped praise on his team-mate Benrahma and believes the Algerian will kick on after netting his second goal of the campaign.

He said: "His quality you can see everyday in training and when it's not going for you, like me at the start of the season, sometimes it just doesn't happen.

"You could see the quality tonight, his mindset, and he's a strong character and the free-kick tonight shows his quality.

"All night he was a menace, he got one vs one, went past his defender, put balls into the box and it's what I see everyday."

Jarred Bowen scored with a ferocious strike to make it 2-0

Moyes was brutally honest in his assessment of his side's performance.

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He said: "I was pleased with the first half, not so pleased with the second half. I'm disappointed that we didn't add more goals. 

"We probably made enough opportunities to create or score chances but in the end we made it hard by giving away a penalty late on."

Angelo Ogbonna came off injured in the 22nd minute and Moyes gave his update on the situation. 

He said: "We just think he's had a tightening of his hamstring. 

"He felt it a week ago when we were doing a bit of training so he said he felt it in the first run, I think he got run down the side by [Fabio] Silva and he felt it.

"Hopefully it is not too bad, he recovered very quickly from the one he had a few days ago. 

"Again, he is someone who's returning from a serious injury at 34 years old so it's not easy to do, and we're pleased with how he's done but disappointed for him tonight."

Tags

West Ham UnitedAnderlechtEuropa Conference League

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