David Moyes salutes Andy Carroll after striker rekindles goalscoring touch
Wednesday 3 January 2018 00:17, UK
David Moyes questioned whether any Premier League defenders could deal with Andy Carroll's aerial threat after he fired West Ham to victory over West Brom.
Carroll ended nine months without a goal in emphatic fashion with a second-half double at the London Stadium, the second of which came deep into stoppage time.
His first, West Ham's equaliser, was a trademark towering header which left Jonny Evans and Kieran Gibbs grounded, and Moyes was jubilant after his striker's return to form.
"They were top goals," he told Sky Sports. "I don't know if there are many centre-halves that could have dealt with his leap for the first goal, and I must say the ball in is terrific.
"And you have to give him great credit for the finish for the second goal."
The Hammers moved five points clear of West Brom with the dramatic 2-1 victory, a result which stretched the Baggies' winless run in the Premier League to 20 games.
It ended a run of four games without a win in all competitions for Moyes' men, and, despite conceding West Ham were not at their best, the Scot demanded his side to push on.
"You can see how important it was, it would have been the same had West Brom scored, Alan [Pardew] would have felt the same," he added. "It was vital three points for us.
"We've come close, we were unlucky against Newcastle a few weeks ago and obviously felt we should have won the game at Bournemouth and we didn't, so to do it today was maybe just.
"We didn't play well, maybe the system we played, which has been good for us, didn't work at all tonight.
"But we made the changes, got 15 yards further up the field and were the better team in the second half, but we weren't at the races in the first half. For long periods we didn't do well at the back, but in the end we got our rewards.
"We want to be out of the bottom three. Psychologically you don't want to be in it at all, I was disappointed when we did slip back into it, but tonight we got a result and we've got to try and move on."
