The FA Cup Awards: Payet, Faupala, and a Shrew

This article originally appeared on VICE Sports UK.

People bang on about 'the magic of the cup' so much that they're missing what has been a pretty decent year in our grand old knockout competition. There have been a few so-called giant killings, clubs fulfilling whatever narrative has hastily been created for them, and some genuinely good football to go along with it.

In fact, it now looks like this might be one of those years where an interesting team or two make it to the business end. That always makes a nice change from the big Premier League sides getting an easy run to the final and limping towards the trophy (but let's not be too positive, because that's still the most likely outcome).

It's always funny when the mythical 'West Ham way' is brought up, but if it's anything to do with Dimitri Payet smacking in free-kicks from long-range with more whip than Indiana Jones, colour us intrigued. This isn't the first time Payet has done something worth watching this season, of course, but it's one of those singular moments that'll take some shaking from the memory.

In recent years West Ham had become a bit of a joke, especially under the wonderfully anti-aspirational Sam Allardyce. Since the introduction of Slaven Bilić, however, things have started to turn around. They're fun to watch, score as many as the concede, and with a player like Payet running things in the middle they've found an heir to the mercurial talents of Paolo Di Canio and Carlos Tevez. The Hammers are now a side who look to win every game they're involved in, and that's led to some of the more entertaining contests this season.

This free-kick, however, was more than just a bit of fun. Payet jogged up to the ball so casually it looked like he was about to stroke it back to the 'keeper in a warm up, but he whipped it so quickly that Blackburn goalie Jason Steele simply couldn't keep up. The finished product looked like something out of a computer game – in fact, the last time we saw a ball move with that much action towards its target, the Looney Tunes had a magnet on Michael Jordan's golf ball in Space Jam.

When the news broke – on Twitter, obviously – about the 11 players that Manchester City were fielding against Chelsea, people couldn't help but take the piss. Chelsea, taking the cup seriously, put out their first-choice side; City selected a team that looked like Pellegrini took too long on the management screen of FIFA during an online game and got caught out by the time limit.

With more unheard of names than the last series of Celebrity Big Brother, and a combined shirt number of almost 450, the richest club in England clearly didn't fancy living up to their modern reputation.

In truth, for the first part of the game they didn't do too badly at all. Chelsea, still not completely recovered from their car crash start to the season, looked a little shocked at how well the mix-and-match City team were playing. The Blues went in front, but David Faupala then levelled it up at 1-1. We'd love to tell you more about him, of course, but the only thing shorter than his Wikipedia entry is what we've managed to come up with here. Following the equaliser, City's day rapidly descended into something befitting the 'list of natural disasters' Wiki page.

We've never predicted the future before in this column, but fuck it, there's a first time for everything. Manchester United have gone from bad to worse this season, and having lost away in the Europa League against a side that sound like they play somewhere around Middle Earth, it's fair to say confidence isn't at its highest right now.

So the last thing they need is a late-night away game on a Monday against a lower-league side playing their biggest match of the season, with the entire country ready to watch and laugh in front of their TVs. Picture this: it's level going into the final few minutes, and the Shrews get a set-piece and send everybody up. It's only ending one way (but don't blame us if your coupon doesn't come in, either). So our Bronze Award goes to whoever gets on the end of that ball – fingers crossed it's one of those battle-worn central defender still playing aged 40 that every League One side seems to have on their books.

@bainsxiii