“The manager said to us before that there were a lot of upsets yesterday and we didn’t want to be one of them,” Reid told the BBC after the final whistle.

League One City pushed their Premier League opponents in the first half, but the Hammers improved after the break and Sakho nodded in Andy Carroll’s cross to seal the win at Ashton Gate.

Reid was happy the game did not go to a replay.

The New Zealand centre-back said: “We wanted to come here and finish off the game. We had to wait a bit for it, but we got there in the end and that’s the most important thing.

“It’s always hard coming to places like this. But we put on a good performance and we got a clean sheet and fortunately Sakho got the goal.”

When asked whether he was relieved to have made it through, Hammers boss Sam Allardyce said: "Yes, because I knew it was going to be tough. I think that we found it difficult at times to get our normal passing routine going. It’s very rare that we don’t score and then one popped up.

“Bearing in mind what’s happened over the weekend, it is a pretty big result for us. We have not played as well as we can but we are in the hat and that’s what matters.”