Page "Geoff Hurst" Paragraph 5

In 1972, West Ham reached the semi final of the League Cup when they played Stoke City over two legs.

In the home leg for West Ham, they were awarded a penalty which Hurst took.

His powerful shot into the top corner was saved by the Stoke goalkeeper and Hurst's international team-mate Gordon Banks, who succeeded in deflecting the ball over the bar.

Stoke won the tie and ultimately the competition.

Hurst left West Ham to join them later the same year for £ 80, 000.

He had played 502 games for West Ham, during which time he had scored 249 goals in all competitions.

Hurst wound down his career with Stoke City and also West Bromwich Albion.

He then signed for the Seattle Sounders of the NASL in 1976.

Unlike many players who went over to the NASL from Europe to end their careers, Hurst rapidly proved his worth, and became a valuable member of the Sounders team.

He was the team's second-leading scorer, helping the Sounders make it to the playoffs for the first time in their brief history, with 8 goals and 4 assists in 23 regular season games, and 1 goal in the playoffs.

More important than Hurst's numbers was his sense of timing: not only did he score the first ( in the home opener against Portland ) and the last ( in the playoffs against Vancouver ) goals of the season, 5 of his 8 goals were game-winners.

After Seattle, Hurst played in Kuwait and signed for Cork Celtic in January 1976.