Tomas Soucek rescues young ball boy who was trapped under advertising board in scary incident

Tomas Soucek came to the rescue of a young ball boy who was trapped beneath an advertising hoarding during West Ham's Premier League clash against Crystal Palace.

In the 67th minute of Saturday's game, hundreds of fans sprinted down the stand at Selhurst Park after Soucek opened the scoring for West Ham.

It was pandemonium in the away end and amid the chaotic celebrations, an advertising hoarding at the bottom of the stand collapsed.

As a result, one young ball boy who was sitting on the edge of the pitch was trapped as Lucas Paqueta fell on top of the travelling support, unaware of what was happening beside him.

Thankfully, a moment of quick-thinking from West Ham midfielder Tomas Soucek, who lifted the hoarding with his hand to allow him top crawl out, stopped the ball boy from getting squashed.

Omg Soucek & Bowen saved that young lad from what could’ve been a very very serious situation. Huge respect to the pair of them ❤️ pic.twitter.com/9tTavxUZA6

— BEN (@SMXLFC) August 24, 2024

Jarrod Bowen was also on hand to drag the youngster out of danger and moments later, a handful of concerned West Ham players comforted the distraught ball boy.

After the full-time whistle, players were once again seen chatting to him, with one Hammers player handing over his shirt.

Here's how fans have reacted to Soucek's heroic act.

One said: "Epitomises the man Tomas Soucek is. You may criticise him as a player but as a person he’s top class," while another commented: "That could of been really ugly if he didn't step in there."

A third wrote: "Brilliant situational awareness by him (and Bowen). Huge respect."

A fourth commented: "Christ almighty what's going on here that's insane. Something needs to be done about this. Well done and quick-thinking from Soucek," and a fifth added: "Well played fellas."

Second-half goals from Soucek and Bowen earner the Hammers a first Premier League win under new manager Julen Lopetegui.

West Ham's win at Selhurst Park moves them up to seventh in the league, while Crystal Palace are down in 18th without a point.

Speaking after the full-time whistle, Lopetegui opened up on their first victory of the league campaign.

He said: "We worked for this win and the feeling is our energy, our petrol. This is why we are happy for the fans - we were unhappy that we were not able to offer them a victory in our last match, and the only thing we can do after is to work.

"Despite losing, sometimes you have to keep a lot of things, and sometimes despite winning you have to improve other things. This is our work."