Sunday 23 August 2015 07:30, UK
Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe hailed hat-trick hero Callum Wilson in his side's 4-3 win at West Ham.
Wilson struck twice to put the Cherries 2-0 up at the break before the hosts hit back to level at 2-2, but a Mark Pugh goal and Wilson's third of the afternoon secured victory despite Modibo Maiga's late goal.
The result gave Howe's men their first points in the Premier League, and the Bournemouth boss was delighted to see his striker get among the goals.
"I thought Callum was a real threat today," he said.
"We never doubted his ability. He's got everything a modern-day striker needs.
"I thought his first goal was a sublime finish, and that gave us the platform then to build on."
Although delighted to have won at the third time of asking, Howe admitted to suffering "a rollercoaster of emotions" during a topsy-turvy second half.
But the Cherries manager was very pleased with the way his side reacted to squandering their two-goal lead.
"I was so pleased with the first half – we were controlled, we were measured, we did everything we wanted to do," he added.
"Everything seemed to go out the window in the second half. It was a strange half, bizarre, from our side.
"But what we did show is real character. At 2-2 it would have been easy to buckle and fold, but we came back again.
"I thought we thoroughly deserved the win, but it was bizarre how we won it in the end."
"I didn't think there was anything in the game, and then we got our confidence back, passed the ball again, and that's where the lads showed great character in the moments leading up to our third goal.
"To get control of the game again was key."
The win lifts Bournemouth out of the bottom three and up to 10th in the table, but Howe was more concerned with the boost the result gives his side rather than their position.
"It means everything – we really needed this today," he said.
"Not in terms of the league table or any nonsense like that, but just for our own belief that we can go anywhere and compete.
"We've done that in the two games we had already and come up with nothing, so it was important today that we backed it up with a result."