West Brom vs West Ham match report: Brown Ideye scores a double as Hammers blown away in FA Cup upset

What a difference a week makes. Ahead of their game at Burnley last Sunday, Brown Ideye was the biggest waste of money in West Bromwich Albion history, a £10m flop signed last summer without Alan Irvine, the club’s previous manager, having seen him play.

Today, after spearheading Albion’s push into the last eight of the FA Cup, the Nigerian is on his way to becoming a cult hero at The Hawthorns.

After scoring against Burnley and Swansea, Brown added two more in Albion’s comprehensive victory over West Ham as the five-time winners reached a first quarter-final since 2008.

The irony of Ideye’s impact will not have been lost on West Ham manager Sam Allardyce. Had Tottenham not blocked his deadline-day move for Emmanuel Adebayor, Carlton Cole – waiting in Albion’s training ground – would have joined West Brom and Ideye would probably have left for Qatar.

Ideye looked a player reborn here, combining impressively with Saido Berahino, and for his delighted manager, Tony Pulis, he is “like a new signing”. The Welshman added: “People ask me what the difference is, and it is confidence – he has scored a goal and there is a weight off his shoulders and he has just gone from strength to strength.”

The same can be said of a hard-working, well-organised Albion side, who have lost just one of eight games since Pulis’s arrival.

Their improvement is testament to Pulis’s powers of motivation and tactical acumen. The fruit of his work was four goals from open play.

Brown got the first. When Aaron Cresswell tried to hook away Craig Gardner’s crossfield ball, Craig Dawson charged it down and burst past Cresswell, crossing for Ideye to tap in. James Tomkins, the last defender, appealed for offside but it was so close a call to render replays inconclusive. Allardyce pointed to “a handball by Dawson”.

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Adrian tipped over a James Morrison shot and Gardner struck the bar before Albion doubled their lead just before the break. After Mark Noble was hassled out of possession by two Albion players, Morrison took over, shrugging off Noble before launching a brilliant 30-yard strike that kissed Adrian’s fingers on its way into the far corner.

Ideye just failed to connect with Chris Brunt’s low cross in the second half but, when Stephane Sessegnon crossed the ball back in, it looped up off Cresswell for Ideye to score with a deflected header.

It was a tame surrender from West Ham, who did not threaten a goal until the 66th minute, when Gareth McAuley cleared a Diafra Sakho effort off the line.

Over 5,000 travelling fans vented their fury at Allardyce before Berahino whipped a shot past Adrian at his near post.

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David Gold, the West Ham co-chairman, tweeted an apology to the fans afterwards but Allardyce described it as “a game too far” for his off-the-pace team, citing draws against Manchester United last Sunday and Southampton on Wednesday, when they played the final half-hour with 10 men. “We couldn’t cope with our injury list and our fixture list this week,” said Allardyce, missing James Collins, Winston Reid and Andy Carroll.

Substitute Morgan Amalfitano was condemned as “irresponsible” and “unprofessional” by Allardyce when he was sent off after 10 minutes on the pitch for pushing Chris Brunt as he received a yellow card for hacking down the same player.