Beating Huddersfield was a massive relief, says Hart
JOE HART today admitted that West Ham’s 2-0 win over Huddersfield last night was a “massive relief ”.
The England goalkeeper, who is on a season-long loan from Manchester City, had conceded 10 goals in three matches before last night’s crunch game, the club’s first of the season at the London Stadium.
Hart finally kept a clean sheet as the Hammers secured their first League win of the season and he said: “There is no point in lying, it was a massive relief.”
West Ham manager Slaven Bilic changed the system to three at the back, but it was the presence of striker Andy Carroll for his first match since April that made the crucial difference.
Pedro Obiang scored the first goal, which took a huge deflection, in the 72nd minute and Andre Ayew sealed the win with a second five minutes later, but it was Carroll who terrorised the Huddersfield defence until he was substituted late in the game.
“Everybody wants Andy fit and we just need to keep him going,” said Hart. “He is such a dangerous player and is so important for us.
“I think we stuck to the plan and fully deserved to take the points. We are up and running. It’s nice to be (playing) at home and it’s nice to get the win.
“We got a slice of luck for the (first) goal, but it was coming. I think Huddersfield had probably been watching us in the previous games and I think they may have been surprised with how dynamic we were.”
There had been speculation that Bilic would have been in serious danger of losing his job had West Ham lost last night, but Hart said: “He puts a lot of faith in us and the main thing we can learn from the game is that we must stick together.”