Their seventh FA Cup success was even more of a narrow squeak than Michael Owen's mugging of Arsenal in 2001, with Steven Gerrard equalising in the 90th minute to send a pulsating contest into extra time.
That was more than West Ham could cope with, or rather the penalties that followed it were. After scoring three goals in normal time and outplaying Liverpool for much of the final the Hammers' hopes faded and died in the time-honoured way, although not before they had contributed to one of the most open and entertaining of contests. The penalties were a travesty, though, with three saves at least. Jose Reina rescued his reputation after contributing to two West Ham goals in the first 90 minutes.
Shane Warne and Prince William were on the pitch before kick-off - perhaps they couldn't get Prince Naseem. The FA were clearly keen to raise the glamour quotient at the 125th final, though there was no need for imported extras or spin of any sort. This was the real deal, a final to be cherished.
After a decade of dampish squibs, this pairing always felt like a proper Cup final, with two teams up for the trophy for a change and not regarding the showpiece as an inconvenience or a consolation prize. Both sides thoroughly deserved to be here too, which is not always the case.
So what happened next had to be memorable, and it was. Rather cheekily, West Ham and their fans were earliest into their stride, chanting 'Ole!' as eight or nine consecutive passes ferried the ball effortlessly from one wing to the other.
With Gerrard guilty of giving the ball away on a couple of occasions West Ham were the slicker in the first quarter, and Liverpool were made to pay when Xabi Alonso uncharacteristically misdirected a pass in the 21st minute. Dean Ashton made the best use of the gift, slipping a perfectly weighted through-ball to play Lionel Scaloni behind Liverpool's defence on the right, and when a low cross was driven across goal in the direction of the waiting Harewood, Jamie Carragher could neither clear it nor avoid it at the near post and ended up steering the ball into his own net.
If Carragher was scarcely deserving of such a fate his afternoon got even worse six minutes later. The centre-half was one of two defenders stretching in vain to prevent Matthew Etherington's shot reaching its target, and although Reina had it covered, the slightest of fumbles by the goalkeeper was enough to let in the predatory Ashton, following up eagerly and energetically to deliver the prod that carried the ball over the line.
At this stage the game was almost half an hour old and Liverpool had not had an attack. Retrieving the ball from his own net in the 30th minute after Peter Crouch had volleyed in Gerrard's free-kick from an offside position was practically Shaka Hislop's first task of the final. That soon changed. Two minutes later Gerrard swung over an even more measured diagonal cross from 40 yards, and this one was expertly swept in at the far post by Djibril Cisse. At this stage, after three goals in 11 minutes and the stadium exploding with noise, it was necessary to remind oneself to breathe. The rest of the first half passed relatively quietly, with Liverpool gradually imposing themselves
As soon as the second half began it was back to the fireworks, Reina being immediately called upon to make a double save from Harewood and Yossi Benayoun. Given that a third goal at that point might have proved unanswerable, Reina atoned for his first-half mistake by keeping Liverpool in the game.
Seven minutes later, as Gerrard demonstrated the definitive, emphatic finish to draw Liverpool level, West Ham were rueing their misses. Gerrard seemed to have missed his chance to shoot from a quick free-kick, but the ball came back to him from Peter Crouch, winning a header at the far post, and the the captain despatched it with venom.
The game took another turn in the 64th minute when Paul Konchesky's cross from the left sailed into Reina's top left corner. It was not clear what Konchesky had been intending, but the goalkeeper had to be faulted for failing to get a glove on a ball hit from 30 yards out. Nor were West Ham finished. Benayoun left Alonso trailing to set up another overlap that Etherington failed to fully exploit with men waiting in the middle. The Liverpool midfielder was withdrawn shortly afterwards for Jan Kromkamp, hardly the most inspiring of substitutes, yet it was enough to keep his side going. Right up until the final minute, when Gerrard smashed his second equaliser of the day past Hislop after tired West Ham defending failed to close him down on the edge of the area.
Extra time caught West Ham out to the extent that they had their B-list strikeforce of Bobby Zamora and Teddy Sheringham on the pitch. None the less it was Liverpool who seemed to find the additional 30 minutes harder, with Cisse and Gerrard barely managing walking pace by the end. Reina touched a Nigel Reo-Coker effort on to a post two minutes from the end of a cruel extra period that was an insult to what had gone before, and penalties, for once, came as a relief. The fact thatWest Ham had to lose, never mind in such an unsatisfactory way, was the only flaw in a wonderful contest.