Taty Castellanos is only a month into his West Ham United career but, if the £27 million signing from Lazio was not quite aware of the importance of the FA Cup when he joined, he certainly is now.
Castellanos scored his first Hammers goal – to date, his only Hammers goal – during a dramatic extra-time victory over local rivals Queens Park Rangers at the London Stadium.
With third-tier Burton Albion to come in round four for West Ham United, the world’s most historic cup competition could provide a welcome distraction from their domestic troubles.
Marlon Harewood, a claret and blue number nine of a previous generation, will forever retain a place in the heart of the supporters for the role he played in their stirring run to the FA Cup final in 2006.
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Like Castellanos, who will hope to open his Premier League account away to Burnley on Saturday, Harewood scored an extra time winner of his own, in round four vs Bolton Wanderers. The big targetman also netted the only goal in the semi-final triumph over Middlesbrough.
Harewood also recalls fondly the contributions strike partner Dean Ashton made along the way.
If the former was Alan Pardew’s bullish battering ram, Ashton was the pure poacher in the Hammers’ ranks. Harewood likens him to the living legend that is Harry Kane, even if a succession of injuries prevented Ashton from reaching the same sky-high standards as the Bayern Munich superstar.
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Marlon Harewood admits former West Ham United striker Dean Ashton reminded him of Harry Kane
Harewood was speaking opposite former Everton and Manchester City defender Joleon Lescott on the All Out Football podcast as the 20th anniversary of the so-called ‘Steven Gerrard Final’ looms on the horizon.
“As a kid growing up, [the FA Cup] is just one of the cups you want to play in,” Harewood says. “Seeing everybody and the players that played in it, and teams that have won it…
“Because of the history of West Ham – and me scoring the goal in the semi-final to get them to the final – it just meant [something] unbelievable. The fans were going crazy because of so many years of not being in it.
“But to be fair, the team that we had, we did so well. It was unbelievable. It was me, Bobby [Zamora], Dean Ashton, then we had Matty Etherington, Nigel Reo-Coker, Hayden Mullins, Anton [Ferdinand], ‘Ginge’ [James Collins], [Danny] Gabbidon, Shaka [Hislop], Jimmy Walker, [Paul] Konchesky…
“So we had a few professionals. It was good. We had a good team, a good dressing room, and good ages as well. It’s not often you get everyone the same age.
“I felt sorry for Dino because he looked like a [proper] striker. He knew how to finish,” Harewood says of Ashton, who was forced to retire at the age of 26, just three years after pouncing on a Pepe Reina spill to put West Ham 2-0 up at the Millennium Stadium.
“He was a bit like Harry Kane. He can finish. If you put that ball in one-on-one with the keeper, you just know he’s going to score because he will finish. Great touch and could do a bit. But yeah, I felt sorry for Dino because he could have gone on to England and done really well.”
Harewood regrets the injury issues Ashton and Bobby Zamora faced
Harewood is left with a similar feeling regarding Zamora, another of West Ham’s goalscorers in that remarkable six-goal thriller in Cardiff two decades ago.
Zamora would leave the Hammers for Fulham and play a massive part in their stunning Europa League charge under Roy Hodgson, but he too would arguably fall short of his true potential.
Zamora missed five months of football in his final season at Upton Park.
“I think Bobby as well, Bobby could have done better. Not that he didn’t do well, but I think he could have done better, man,” Harewood wonders. “Injuries… honestly, [he was] something else.
“I loved playing with Bobby.”
If Nuno faces a few selection dilemma’s at Turf Moor, Pardew certainly had a couple at that Millennium Stadium. Harewood and Ashton got the nod, but Zamora’s goal off the bench highlights the quality and depth the Hammers possessed at the time.
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Steven Gerrard’s iconic double secured Liverpool the 2006 FA Cup
That 2006 classic is known as the ‘Gerrard Final’ for a reason. Not only would the Liverpool captain pull his team back from 2-0 down with a thumping strike from the edge of the box on the 54th minute, he would take a topsy-turvy final to extra time and penalties with a 35-yard dream of a strike past a despairing Shaka Hislop.
Reina would then make up for his earlier mistake with no fewer than three spot-kick saves, denying Zamora, Anton Ferdinand and Paul Konchesky from 12 yards.
“I was right there. Normal people would hit it wide,” Harewood says of that iconic Gerrard strike. “We talked to him after the game and he said he was tired. He was cramping up!
“The ball was bouncing towards him and he just half-volleyed it. It was just hovering. Everyone’s thought process was just watching this ball hover, and it just hit the back of the net. It didn’t touch the floor. And then obviously Shaka was [beaten], but the only person that could do that was him.
“I remember we went 2-0 up and I’m looking at Dean Ashton going, ‘What? We’ve got this. We’ve got this’. And then Stevie went inside to put on the cape! He came out a different person.
“Not good for us at the time that he did that, but he was different. The ball couldn’t land to anybody better than him.”
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