Kanoute takes his chance

Harry Redknapp was not asked it once, he was asked it twice. "Name on the Cup?" "Feeling it could be your year?"

He looked fed up. What was he going to say? "Yes", and sound arrogant? "No", and sound defeatist? Or: "Well, you never know." Which is what he did say. It was a dead bat, of course. But then there may have been more than an element of truth in Redknapp's answer: after watching West Ham squander chance after chance on Saturday, he must truly have never known if one of his players was eventually going to score never mind win the Cup. Yesterday's home draw against Spurs can have brought only partial reassurance.

Just as worrying for Redknapp on Saturday was that as West Ham continued to be wasteful, Sunderland were striving to drag themselves out of their lunchtime mediocrity and on a couple of occasions actually managed to do so.

But these were limited moments from a Sunderland side which has won one of its last six games - against Ipswich Town in the fourth round - and which needs to find an alternative way of playing once Plan A has failed. Only so much can be expected of Kevin Phillips and Niall Quinn. When they did produce, Stuart Pearce, well supported by Igor Stimac, stood tall.

Sunderland's problems were further back. In Stefan Schwarz and Gavin McCann they had holding midfielders in the centre circle. McCann did get forward, belatedly, and had some good touches in the second half, but Sunderland's midfield immobility was made to seem all the more flat-footed by the movement of their opposites in the same area, Frank Lampard and Joe Cole.

Cole got better as the game wore on, but it was Lampard, in particular, who ran intelligently and purposefully from the beginning, always trying to get beyond his forwards when West Ham countered.

Unfortunately for him, his finishing remains questionable - he has just four goals this season and a feeble 71st-minute shot from an excellent pass from Nigel Winterburn was typical of his and West Ham's efforts - but Lampard more than redeemed himself when he skipped through a ruck of red and white shirts five minutes later to deliver another incisive pass through the torso of the Sunderland defence. It was to be the game's defining moment.

For the fourth, and not the last time, Frederic Kanoute ran onto the ball and away form his markers. The Frenchman had had a frustrating afternoon until that point, his normally velvet touch replaced by an abrasive scratch at various passes, his timing deserting him so that he was offside more often than he was on.

And here Kanoute was, clear again. What would he do? Luckily the Sunderland goalkeeper made up Kanoute's mind for him. Racing off his line too early, Thomas Sorensen was outside the area by the time Kanoute was through. Kanoute was forced to shoot the ball underneath him. Kanoute must have been grateful.

The 7,000 Hammers fans who had left their bed at 4.30 a.m. to get to Wearside were delirious. "Let's all do a Barthez," they sang, one arm aloft.

A minute later Kanoute should have made it two and ended Redknapp's anxiety, but again he missed and Sunderland stormed forward for an equaliser.

But Sunderland lacked the creativity to overcome the iron fist represented by Pearce and Stimac, and even Peter Reid admitted that West Ham deserved their victory. Reid added that he had omitted one option, Kevin Kilbane, because the player is suffering a mini crisis of confidence. It's a Sunderland problem.

But West Ham are bubbling.

SUNDERLAND: Sorensen, Makin, Williams, Varga (McCartney 22), Thome, McCann, Schwarz, Arca, Oster, Quinn, Phillips, McCartney (Dichio 83). Subs Not Used: Macho, Thirlwell, Lumsdon. Booked: Williams, Thome, Arca.

WEST HAM: Hislop, Stuart Pearce, Winterburn, Dailly, Schemmel, Stimac, Carrick, Cole, Lampard, Di Canio, Kanoute. Subs Not Used: Forrest, Tihinen, Ian Pearce, Moncur, Suker. Booked: Schemmel. Goals: Kanoute 76.

Referee: A Wiley (Burntwood).