Tomas Soucek and Jarrod Bowen swiftly intervened after West Ham celebrations had caused an advertising board to fall on a Crystal Palace ball boy.
The chaos occurred after Bowen sent the West Ham away fans into bedlam following his second goal, which ultimately sealed a 2-0 win for the Hammers at Selhurst Park.
Soucek had put Julen Lopetegui’s side a goal ahead only five minutes before, after neat work from substitute Aaron Wan-Bissaka who was making his debut for the club.
Bowen then finished off a brilliant counter-attack with a thumping shot, after Soucek won the ball in his own half and sent a stunning pass to put the newly-appointed club captain through on goal.
Players and supporters celebrated wildly, but there was almost a serious accident after the rush of West Ham fans caused one of the advertising hoardings to break and fall onto the ball boy sat in front of it.
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Soucek immediately noticed what happened and stopped celebrating, and he stooped and singlehandedly pulled the board off the youngster.
It wasn’t an easy thing to do, considering it had the weight of several fans on top of it, plus teammate Lucas Paqueta who added to the pile on without realising what was happening a few yards away.
Soucek managed to get the ball boy out in time, though, as he and Bowen checked he was OK before he was taken away off the pitch by Palace staff – with the West Ham skipper later gifting him his shirt.
Former West Ham defender Scott Minto was covering the game for talkSPORT and he described the scenes at Selhurst Park.
“I thought the West Ham players dealt with it really well,” he said.
“No one actually stepped over the fence. It was more that the West Ham fans, because they were so happy, they all kind of went down towards the front row, and with too many people leaning on it the little board has fallen over.
“There was a ball boy there who was sitting on his chair and it looked like it fell on top of him.
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“Soucek bent down and tried to pick up the board, and told the little boy to get away because it could fall on top of him even more. Jarrod Bowen then pulled him to one side and had a little chat with him and said, ‘Are you okay?’
“Thankfully it seemed like everything was OK in the end.”
That certainly appeared to be the case, with Bowen confirming after the game that he had spoken with the boy and even given him a gift.
“We just managed to grab him out as quickly as possible, it was just instinct,” he told BBC.
“I’ve seen him after the game, he’s got my top now and he’s smiling. He’s all good, which is good to see.”
Speaking to the club’s social media channels after the match, Bowen, with Soucek stood next to him, said: “I’ve seen him and I think it’s just instinct, especially when you’re parents now as well.
“You see anything with a child and you try and rush to the rescue, but I think I just managed to get him out, of course it’s a celebration in front of the away fans, so it was obviously not nice to see.
“But when you score in front of the away fans, they’re going to celebrate like they do.
“The main thing was the kid is alright. He got my shirt, whether he wanted it or not, and I think he said to me he’s got a football game tomorrow, so he said he’s ready for that. Yeah, it’s all good.
“It could’ve been worse, but we managed to get him out.”
Palace’s star man Eberechi Eze came close for the hosts three times in the first-half, but ultimately the Eagles were undone by a calamitous spell as they conceded two goals in five minutes.
Eze’s first chance, created by Jean-Philippe Mateta on the edge of the box, had left goalkeeper Alphonse Areola stranded, but deflected just over the bar.
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It wasn’t long until Adam Wharton had played the forward through on goal again, but Areola was able to get a strong foot to the goal bound effort.
Then, as the interval approached, Oliver Glasner’s men produced fine work from a corner that left Eze unmarked on the edge of the penalty area, but his strike was this time denied by the woodwork.
The defeat leaves Palace winless in their first two Premier League games, following an opening day defeat at Brentford.
West Ham’s task doesn’t get any easier with a visit of Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City next Saturday, after they host Bournemouth midweek in the Carabao Cup.
