Alan Shearer blasted Andriy Yarmolenko for his ‘ridiculous’ dive during West Ham’s 2-1 win against Kidderminster Harriers in the FA Cup on Saturday, as he told Match of the Day on BBC One.
West Ham were red-faced as it was because non-league Kidderminster were looking to cause one of the biggest shocks in FA Cup history.
The Premier League side needed a Declan Rice goal in stoppage-time of normal time to take the tie to extra-time.
As the Hammers were chasing that winner in extra time, Pablo Fornals played a clever through ball to Yarmolenko.
Rather than the Ukrainian looking to take a shot at goal, he opted to throw himself to the floor like he had been snipped and he just added further embarrassment to proceedings for his team.
This was touched upon by Shearer in commentary and he wasn’t impressed by the player’s action.
“West Ham were desperate, at this point (late in extra-time),” said Shearer. “We even saw that ridiculous dive from Yarmolenko when he tried to con the referee.
“West Ham were pushing without really creating too much and they will move on.
“They will go into the next round and they won’t dwell too much on this performance.”
Even the most ardent of West Ham supporters will admit that Kidderminster didn’t deserve to lose that game.
If anything, they deserved the tie to at least, go to penalties.
But there were some still magic created in the FA Cup and it’s the reason why the oldest club competition in the world is so special.
Other than Rice, who came on as a second-half substitute, and the absent Michail Antonio, it was a near full-strength West Ham side, which makes the work and effort of the non-league side even more impressive.
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