Ben Johnson challenged his teammates to push on after West Ham United progressed into the Emirates FA Cup fourth round following a 1-0 win at Brentford on Saturday.
An important victory was secured by Saïd Benrahma, who returned to his former club and struck the only goal of the game at the Gtech Community Stadium.
That goal eleven minutes from time not only secured a place in the FA Cup fourth-round draw but also ended a winless run of six matches for the Irons.
And, after a difficult start, Johnson believes the Hammers can push on following Saturday’s win.
“Brentford have beaten a lot of the top-six here, and even away from home,” explained Johnson, on the task the Hammers faced in west London. “It is definitely a great result. You want to go as far as you can in the FA Cup, and these games are tricky, the pitch was tricky today, but we got over the line with a great goal from Said.
“We just need to push on from this and keep the momentum. We’re looking more dangerous again with each game - we have just got to continue that and prepare for Wolves. It has given us a lot of confidence and definitely a boost; the boys are happy [with the win].”
Now well at home in the first team, Ben Johnson was working his way through the Academy when David Gold became Joint-Chairman in 2010.
Gold sadly passed away peacefully on Wednesday and the Hammers No2, who made his 73rd appearance in Claret and Blue at Brentford, credited the win to the late Joint- Chairman.
Johnson said: “We wanted to give everything for him and I think we did. We put on a good show and he definitely would be happy.
"The memories that me and the boys have is that the Chairman has always been warm, always wanting to know how we are away from the pitch. He always came [to the training ground] and it's really nice, really touching. Of course, he didn't come as much as he could in the last few months but when he came it was always special.
"We’ve got another home game and it's definitely going to be a fantastic atmosphere and celebration for him and his family.”
