Nuno hails fans as Hammers hit back in rare win

Nuno Espírito Santo said that his West Ham team had given their fans “something small” to cling on to with a first victory of his tenure and that he hoped a performance of grit, ability and, perhaps most importantly, belief would give them momentum in their fight against relegation.

- Paul MacInnes

"I'm very happy with the result and think we should be proud of the way we did it,” Nuno said after Newcastle were beaten handily.

“In the first half things went against us but we bounced back. In the second half we were against the ropes but we were resilient. We gave our fans something small, and what they gave us back was huge: the noise was amazing.”

This was the manager’s first win in his fifth attempt and the team’s first three points at home since the end of February. Such was the apathy around the ground at kickoff that the home support could barely get themselves up for jeering after they conceded the opener four minutes in. By the time a Tomas Soucek ram-raid had sealed the points in second-half added time, however, there was both noise around the ground and a sense of hope rekindled.