West Ham captain Kevin Nolan hailed his side’s first away victory of the Barclays Premier League season on Monday night as ‘absolutely vital’ – and also fully deserved.
The promoted Hammers took a third-minute lead against hosts QPR through Matt Jarvis’ first goal for the club before Ricardo Vaz Te doubled their advantage in the 35th minute, both goals coming from far-post finishes.
At half time the buzz around the changing rooms are most players are talking about sportsbook review
QPR pulled a goal back with a stunning 57th-minute effort from Adel Taarabt just moments after he came on as a substitute, but they lost Samba Diakite to a second yellow card 15 minutes from time and the remaining 10 men could not find an equaliser.
The result leaves QPR rooted to the foot of the standings with only two points from six games, while West Ham moved into the top seven, with Tottenham and West Brom on 11 points.
Nolan said of the win on Sky Sports: ‘It was absolutely vital. Absolutely delighted with the win today.
‘They made us work for the win in the second half. It was a fantastic first-half performance, the second half I thought we dug in and we could have won it by more in the end really.’
Nolan also praised his side for the way they fought to hold off QPR’s attempted comeback after the break.
‘We knew at some point they had to make changes, we had to be ready for that and I thought we dealt with it well,’ he said.
‘It was a great goal (from Taarabt) but I thought the lads after that we responded well, we dug in, they had the man sent off which helped us, but I thought overall we were well deserving of the win.
‘Tonight we proved we are tough to beat and we have quality.’
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