West Ham's dreams of a second successive FA Cup final appearance faded and died at the hands of fellow Premiership strugglers Watford.

Anthony McNamee's neat overhead kick was enough to deny the Irons an end of season visit to Cardiff for the fourth year running.

The winger's goal was one of the few moments of cup magic in a game that was short on quality, invention and flair.

And even then, the match winning strike came only as the result of a glaring error from West Ham goalkeeper Roy Carroll.