West Ham 1 Wolves 0 - Report and pictures

But this match will be remembered for far more than Nikica Jelavic's cruel late winner, struck in the 85th minute.

That's because this FA Cup tie may have heralded the end of two of their strikers' Wolves careers.

Benik Afobe was unsurprisingly left out of the squad with his £12million move to Bournemouth believed to be imminent.

But Wolves also lost his replacement in the team, Bjorn Sigurdarson, to what look like a very serious injury, potentially to his back, so soon after recovering from painstaking back surgery.

There were positives here, with 3,000 away fans certainly enjoying their day out to watch a match that on another day Wolves could easily have secured a replay from.

Debutant Michal Zyro made a promising first appearance in Wolves colours.

West Ham: Randolph; Jenkinson, Collins, Reid, Cresswell; Noble (c) (Payet, 66), Obiang, Song; Antonio, Jelavic (Oxford, 87), Zarate (Carroll, 71).

Subs not used: Adrian, Tomkins, Ogbonna, Cullen.

Goal: Jelavic (85)

Wolves (4-3-3): Ikeme; Iorfa, Batth (c), Ebanks-Landell, Doherty; Coady, McDonald, Edwards; Van La Parra (Graham, 80), Sigurdarson (Le Fondre, 57), Zyro (Henry, 81).

Subs not used: Martinez, Golbourne, Saville, Byrne.

The defensive resoluteness which has defined their recent victories over Charlton and Brighton was back in abundance, but this time against a far higher class of opposition.

Yet goalkeeper Carl Ikeme only one one save worth writing home about, just before half-time from Carl Jenkinson, before Jelavic's untimely intervention.

They produced excellent chances of their own, both in the first and and last minutes of what for the neutral was hardly the most thrilling of encounters.

There were a couple of surprises on the team sheet, with Sigurdarson starting his first match since December 2013.

Rajiv van La Parra was included on the right wing after returning from a loan spell at Brighton and the pair almost combined to score inside 15 seconds at Upton Park.

Van La Parra, near the right corner flag, sent the ball right across the face of goal, which had Sigurdarson been alive to it he wouldn't have been able to miss from two yards out.

The visitors were on the front foot in the opening minutes with Zyro showing some very nice touches, winning headers and also sending a couple of decent corners into the West Ham box.

They were getting forward in good numbers and Conor Coady also sent the ball across goal after breaking into the box.

The Hammers, who had been lacklustre from the off, began to work their way into the game with Mauro Zarate seeing a lot of the ball.

He sent a decent effort towards Ikeme for the his first save of the match, before Pedro Obiang's header from a corner was equally as comfortable.

Wolves' attacking ambitions were becoming limited, much in the fashion of their recent away victories at Charlton and Brighton, with the bus very much parked in front of Ikeme's box.

Siguardarson and Zyro were decent outlets on the break, but Wolves struggled to get enough forward in support.

In truth it wasn't a first half that any neutral would have enjoyed, with chances at a premium.

Ikeme produced a wonder-save from Carl Jenkinson's 20-yard piledriver, tipping it over at full stretch as the half ended goalless.

The Hammers started the second half in a similar manner, but there was soon a lengthy stoppage when Sigurdarson crumpled with no player around him.

The Icelandic international gingerly crouched onto his knees, but then seemed unable to move, in what was a painful scene to witness.

With almost every outfield player around him, and David Edwards by his side throughout, Sigurdarson was slowly rolled onto his back and then attended to before being stretchered off.

On came Adam Le Fondre, and after an understandable lull with both sets of fans very subdued, Wolves began to attack in what was their best spell of the game.

Zyro sent a header towards Edwards and he was beaten to it in the nick of time in the six yard box, while a dangerous Van La Parra cross was cleared in front of goalkeeper Darre Randolph.

Kevin McDonald's shot through a crowd of players was nervously claimed by Randolph, then Zyro cut inside from the right and fired a powerful effort straight at the keeper.

Hammers boss Slaven Bilic reacted by sending on Dimitri Payet - for the loudest cheer of the afternoon thus far - and Andy Carroll, resulting in a tide change as the hosts went back on the front foot.

But Ikeme's goal remained unbreached, with an Alex Song shot that flashed wide pretty much the best they could offer ahead of the closing stages.

With 10 minutes to go, Jackett sent on Graham and James Henry, in place of Zyro and Van La Parra, to give Wolves a fresh burst of pace on the counter.

But it was West Ham who continued to pile forward - and with just five minutes left they broke the deadlock.

Carroll created it, initially mis-controlling the ball but then playing through to Jelavic who beat Ikeme with an unstoppable, rasping half volley from the left of the box.

It was his second goal against Wolves this season, having scored for Hull at Molineux in August before his move to London.

Wolves tried to respond, and enjoyed plenty of possession in six minutes of added time.

Henry flashed the ball across goal, and then Le Fondre sent a 15-yard effort wide with the last effort of the game, as Wolves bowed out of the FA Cup at the first attempt.