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FA Cup: How Swansea team bond and mud saw off West Ham

By Neil Prior

BBC News

It was one of the classic FA Cup third round upsets.

Swansea City's players, sitting in the fourth tier, had just been told by their manager that none of them had the right to play Premier League high-flyers West Ham United.

The Hammers had coming England stars like Frank Lampard, Rio Ferdinand, Joe Cole, and Swansea-born John Hartson.

But team bonding, a muddy pitch and a spectacular volley by an injured player saw the Swans claim a big scalp.

The Swans knocked out the Hammers in that 1999 replay, after coming within a whisker of doing so in the first game.