West Ham United manager David Moyes was all smiles at the final whistle of West Ham United’s come-from-behind victory at Leeds United on Saturday, praising his team’s character and effort to give their supporters yet another memorable away day.
The Hammers had to dig deep at Elland Road, falling behind to Raphinha’s 19th minute goal before fighting back in the second half to score twice in the game’s final quarter.
After Jarrod Bowen forced an own goal from Leeds defender Junior Firpo, Michail Antonio ran through in the final minute to slot into the net and complete a 2-1 victory.
Manager Moyes spoke to West Ham TV at the final whistle…
The emotions of the game were incredible.
If you’re a neutral watching it that was an incredible game, but if you’re a supporter of either team you might have looked at it differently. There were that many chances at both ends.
When you look at the week we’ve had – we were away at Old Trafford in the week and have come to Elland Road and won as well – it’s a big day for the players and they deserve it.
The squad we’ve got, everybody’s right in it. We stayed up for a few days after the Manchester United game, we thought that was the right thing to do, and it’s turned out that way with the result today.
It was a really hard-fought win and we showed huge character to come back.
Leeds are completely different from any other side we play and if affected us, especially in the first half.
I didn’t think we played so well, and some of our better players didn’t play well today, but as the game went on we grew into it and got the win.
The players have done a brilliant job, and do you know something? I wasn’t surprised. We’ve got a wee bit more of inner drive in us. Of course there will be games where we go behind and maybe can’t get back from it, but in the main, certainly in the last 18 months or so, we’ve been in every game.
We might not win them all, but we’ve been in every game fighting to try and win it. Today was another one where we’re fighting to try and win it. We got back to draw it, then we went on to win it, so it’s really good.
Jarrod Bowen was excellent today, as he’s been in all three games this week.
I was able to keep him on because I know his fitness levels, but I was also able to keep him on because he has been playing so well and is giving us something a little bit more. It’s just missing his goals right now.
The goalkeeper made a really good save from Michail after four or five minutes, and he missed a few chances, but that’s what happens if you keep your strikers on – they can get their goal.
There were periods of the game when it might not have been Micky’s best game, but he got us what we needed in the end and it was a great win.
The supporters was brilliant once again today, too.
I’m really pleased that they got to see the winning goal at their end right in front of them in the 90th minute. For them it was a great moment and we’re trying to build the club and build it stronger.
I’ve got to say the supporters were unbelievable at Manchester United on Wednesday, as they were today, so they’re right behind the players and the players are appreciating it greatly.
You can see when they came off the pitch how much the players want to connect with the supporters. Let’s hope we can keep winning.
