JONATHAN SHALLARD in PRAGUE —- West Ham ended a 58-year wait for a second European trophy by defeating Fiorentina 2-1 in the UEFA Europa Conference League Final in the Fortuna Stadium in Prague.

The Italians will fly home baffled at how they allow the match and the trophy to escape them. They commanded most of the possession but were caught on the counter-attack in the last minute of normal time by Jarrod Bowen.

Earlier West Ham had taken a 62nd-minute lead with a penaly converted by Said Benrahma only to concede an equaliser almost immediately to Giacomo Bonaventura. Bowen then accelerated clear in the dying minutes to convert a superbly-timed through pass from Lucas Paqueta.

The Hammers’ only previous European success was in 1965 when Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst, Martin Peters and Co defeated TSV 1860 Munich 2-0 at Wembley in the final of the now-defunct Cup-winners Cup.

Victory was probably the perfect farewell from West Ham midfielder Declan Rice who is likely to be sold for a big-money fee to finance a summer transfer campaign so the club avoid another fight to avoid relegation. The dangers which lurked for much of the Premier League campaign could easily have cost manager David Moyes his job.

This was the first major prize of the Scot’s 1,000-plus matches as a manager and his 87-year-old father was in the crowd to witness it.

‘Brilliant club’

Moyes said: “This is fantastic. I have had a long career in football and you don’t get many moments like this. It is a brilliant club in the East End of London that does wonderful work in the community. It is a great family club. It is getting better and stronger. This is another step on the road of continued progress.

“This competition has been great for us, the players have been remarkable.”

Fiorentina dominated almost all the first half but without showing any penetration in and around the penalty box. West Ham’s only threat was a 12th-minute shot from Rice which skimmed just wide while Fiorentina’s Luka Jovic had a ‘goal’ disallowed for offside in the final seconds of first-half stoppage time.

Fiorentina pressed on again after the interval. A shot from Christian Kouame was easily saved by keeper Alphonse Areola before West Ham took the lead against the run of play with Benrahma’s penalty after handball by Cristiano Biraghi under pressure from Bowen.

The Italians failed to press home any advantage from their comeback and in the last minute the unfortunate Biraghi was the defender who played Bowen onside as the winger darted through the middle to turn himself into the hero of the night.

Bowen said: “I obviously dreamed of scoring but to score the winner in the last minute – it’s what you always say you want to do. I thought I was going to cry. I’m just happy. We haven’t had the best season, myself included, but this is the biggest game of my career. I’m just so happy. I’m over the moon.”

** West Ham will be subject to disciplinary action from UEFA after an object thrown from a Hammers section struck Cristiano Biraghi on the head.

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