Slaven Bilic says West Ham deserved to beat Sunderland
Saturday 27 February 2016 19:29, UK
Slaven Bilic felt West Ham deserved to beat Sunderland 1-0 on Saturday despite squandering several opportunities to make the game safe.
Both sides hit the woodwork at Upton Park before Michail Antonio struck after half an hour, when the winger fired past Vito Mannone following a mistake from Sunderland's Patrick van Aanholt.
The visitors laid siege to the Hammers' goal after the break, but West Ham held on for the narrow win as substitute Andy Carroll hit the bar late on, and boss Bilic felt his side were worthy winners despite failing to find the second goal.
"We deserved to win," said Bilic. "We scored the goal, we hit the post twice and we could have had a penalty for a foul on Dimitri Payet.
"But more than a few times there were situations where we tried to be too cute. This is the Premier League. Until you score the second one there is always the danger you will concede.
"They created a couple of chances and they played some good football in the second half but if you are trying to tell me they deserved to win this game more than us, no way."
Antonio scored for the third consecutive home match, and Bilic paid tribute to the former Nottingham Forest forward after his match-winning contribution.
"He's a good example for this new generation of players who are expecting first to get a chance and then they are going to show you how good they are. They don't need to deserve a chance," he said.
"He probably dreamed about the Premier League for a few years at Forest or before in non-league football."
Antonio said: "They threw everything at us, it's a great three points and now we kick on to the next game.
"I put five-in-five of my finishes in at training [like the goal] yesterday so I thought I would have a go today."
Goalkeeper Adrian added: "We defended so well, but I think we deserved the win and the three points. We are on a good run but we need to keep going.
"We have shown great spirit in the last [few] games and we are in a good position in the league."
