West Ham vs Manchester United match report: Winston Reid nets winner but bus attack mars final Boleyn Ground game

West Ham 3 Manchester United 2

Winston Reid celebrates the final goal ever scored at the Boleyn Ground (Getty)

Manchester United have seen two league titles slip from their grasp at Upton Park and they can now add blowing Champions League qualification to their West Ham tale of woe after throwing away a 2-1 lead to gift the home crowd the dream finale at the stadium’s last-ever game.

Leading 2-1 less than 15 minutes to play following two Anthony Martial goals – the second was a stunner – United then capitulated, conceding two soft headers to Michael Antonio and Winston Reid to miss the chance to dislodge Manchester City in fourth and go into the final day of the season in pole position for the final Champions League berth.

United must now hope that City lose at Swansea this Sunday, and that they defeat Bournemouth at Old Trafford, for a last-gasp ascent into the top four.

This was never going to be an ordinary game, with the lights going out on Upton Park for the final time, but the visit of United to this corner of the East End has always carried more spice than most fixtures for West Ham.

Objects are thrown at United's bus as it arrives at the ground

Police surround the bus as it is attacked (Getty) (2016 Getty Images)

A woman and a child are helped through during the ugly scenes (Getty) (2016 Getty Images)

And United have found it to be a graveyard for their ambitions more than once, with Sir Alex Ferguson decrying the ‘obscene’ effort of an already-relegated West Ham back in 1992 when Kenny Brown’s goal sealed a 1-0 home win and all but ended the visitors’ title hopes.

Three years later, United infamously missed a catalogue of chances on the final day of the 1994-95 season at Upton Park, emerging with a 1-1 draw when a victory would have denied Blackburn Rovers the championship.

So with United needing a victory again to leapfrog City and climb into the top four, Van Gaal’s would have approached this game with apprehension due to history and the ability of Slaven Bilic’s team to beat anybody on their day.

But with emotions running high with Upton Park closing its doors after 112 years, United’s players also had to overcome the trauma of their team bus being attacked on the approach to the stadium ahead of the game.

Five windows were smashes, with glass showering the players, prompting the idiotic response by West ham co-chairman David Sullivan, suggesting that United ‘should have got here at 4pm, and that ‘if you check the coach, there won’t be any damage to it.’

Sullivan may have turned a blind eye to the thuggery of a section of his club’s supporters, but video footage offered clear evidence of the attack. If this is the Upton Park experience, then it should be goodbye and good riddance.

But with the game eventually kicking off at 8.30pm following a 45-minute delay, United endured another ambush, this time on the pitch, with West Ham starting in a frenzy of noise.

Bilic’s team went for United from the off and they were ahead on ten minutes when Diafra Sakho’s left foot strike from Manuel Lanzini’s cross deflected off the shin of Daley Blind to beat goalkeeper David de Gea.

United were shellshocked, missing the calm assurance in midfield of former Hammer, Michael Carrick, and they should fallen further behind ten minutes later when Andy Carroll, clean through on goal, was denied by De Gea’s legs.

Van Gaal’s team, needing a victory to have any realistic hope of Champions League qualification, could not get a foothold in the game, with 34 minutes passing before Wayne Rooney’s cross was headed to safety by Michail Antonio.

Martial scores United and his second goal (Getty)

United could not afford to play their usual patient game, however, with a victory crucial for their top four aspirations and Van Gaal, so often the arch pragmatist, replaced the ineffective Morgan Schneiderlin with Carrick at the interval.

And the change was rewarded six minutes into the second-half when Martial levelled for United after a Marcus Rashford inspired counter attack left West Ham exposed.

Rashford, hugely impressive for an 18-year-old just three months into his first-team career, broke towards goal before feeding the overlapping Juan Mata, who continued into the penalty area.

Mata then a delivered a low ball to the far post, leaving Martial the simple task of stoking the ball into the net.

West Ham responded well, though. Dimitri Payet flashed a 20 yard effort into the side-netting before the Frenchman’s 56th minute free-kick was somehow headed over by Sakho from three yards.

Martial then headed off the line from Carroll as West Ham hit back, but the stadium fell silent on 72 minutes when the United forward danced into the penalty area before beating goalkeeper Darren Randolph from a tight angle.

Game over? United may have thought so, but West Ham drove forward, with Antonio equalising with a header from Payet’s 76th minute free-kick.

And the killer blow for United – and perfect ending for Upton Park – came when Reid stooped to head Payet’s cross past De Gea five minutes later.

United had the top four in their grasp, but they can only blame themselves for throwing it away.