West Ham United boss Sam Allardyce has said that progression was the important thing as his side qualified for the fifth round of the FA Cup with a slender win over Bristol City.
The Hammers grabbed a late victory away at Ashton Gate after substitute Diafra Sakho headed in eight minutes from time.
"In the end one moment of quality has put us in the next round and that is the most important thing. All credit to Bristol City for never being overawed and taking their league form, which has been outstanding, into the FA Cup," Allardyce said after the game.
"Keeping a clean sheet made all the difference and it was a hard-earned victory for us. They had their best spell in the opening 15 or 20 minutes, but we battled all the way through to make that one bit of quality count. With the size Bristol have in their team, we knew we had to protect ourselves as best we could from set-pieces.
"We put players on each post because we felt at some point they would get headers at our goal and it proved a wise tactic. How far we can go in the competition will depend on the draw. We will have to face Premier League opposition at some point if we progress, but I would rather leave that until the final."
The Hammers will now wait until Monday for the draw in order to find out who they will face in the next round.
Christopher Dodd
