Burton 0-1 West Ham AET: Crysencio Summerville rides to rescue again as 10-man Hammers battle past League One strugglers in FA Cup

Not for the first time in recent weeks Crysencio Summerville rode to West Ham’s rescue.

Darting inside from the left, jinking past defenders, Summerville’s deflected shot swerved and dipped into the Burton net, sparing Nuno Espirito Santo further ignominy.

Until then, in the fifth minute of extra time, Nuno’s under-strength team had barely looked like scoring against the League One strugglers.

They laboured through 90 minutes managing only four efforts on target and after Summerville’s goal had to hang on when Burton fought back after a red card for Freddie Potts reduced them to 10 men.

Jack Armer, Kain Adom and Kyran Lofthouse all flashed shots narrowly wide in extra time. Alphonse Areola saved from Adom and Kegs Chauke crashed the rebound into the side netting.

West Ham had to survive the final 20 minutes of extra time with only 10 men after Freddie Potts was sent off and the teams broke into a skirmish near the end of the tie after a tackle by Kyle Walker-Peters.

Summerville’s strike proved enough for West Ham to edge past their League One opponents

West Ham were reduced to 10-men when Freddie Potts was sent off shortly after Summerville put them ahead

They made it into the FA Cup fifth round, however, thanks to Summerville’s six goal in seven games, but there was little cause to celebrate after tie preceded by with a light aircraft circling the Pirelli Stadium pulling a protest banner against the West Ham owners.

Nuno claimed there was no risk involved as he made 10 changes and peppered his team with inexperience. Konstantinos Mavropanos was the only survivor from the starting line-up against Manchester United.

Jarrod Bowen, Tomas Soucek and Mateus Fernandes took the day off. Others started on the bench but were required.

Burton started the day in the League One relegation zone. They were winless in five but opened with intent, troubling the Premier League visitors in the first 20 minutes, especially from set pieces including Tyrese Shade’s long throw.

Sebastian Revan fired wide before he was injured and replaced, and Alphonse Areola saved from Shade. Claims for a penalty for a foul on Jake Beesley were waved away.

West Ham survived and established a little more control. Soungoutou Magassa and Mohamadou Kante imposed their physical power and stature on the midfield areas, although with very little creativity.

Brad Collins made a comfortable save from a curling effort from distance by Callum Wilson. The response from the away end was an ironic chorus of ‘We’ve had a shot’.

Their next one, from Kante from 25 yards, sailed high over the goal, over the West Stand and out of the ground. It summed up their performance.

West Ham found a better rhythm at the start of the second half. They moved the ball quicker, Adama Traore got on the ball and tested Burton’s defence. Wilson and Ollie Scarles were close to a low Traore cross from the right before bundled out at the back post.

The match was proceeded by West Ham fans staging a protest against their ownership by flying a banner over the Pirelli Stadium

Potts was shown a straight red card for a foul on Burton Albion’s Julian Larsson

Burton passed up several opportunities in the closing stages to take the match to penalties

Nuno Espirito Santo had named an understrength side and will be relieved to have progressed to the fifth round

Mavropanos met one corner delivered by Scarles with firm header straight into the hands of Collins, then met another with a miscued volley which skidded wide.

Wilson darted clear onto a long free kick out of defence, taken quickly by Mavropanos and connected with a crisp volley. Collins pushed it over.

Burton resisted, then summoned a flourish which prompted Nuno to revert to a back four and boost his front line with Taty Castellanos and Summerville.

Although the changes came too late to prevent extra time, Summerville gave them an advantage and might have scored a second on the break near the end.

West Ham had to battle to protect the lead after Potts was sent off, a straight red harshly given for a mistimed sliding tackle on Julian Larsson. Burton lacked a killer instinct in front of goal. Summerville’s settled the tie.