West Ham 2 Swansea 0: Sam Allardyce praises ‘brilliant’ Hammers

Sam Allardyce praised his West Ham side’s “brilliant” performance after Kevin Nolan’s first-half double against Swansea lifted them out of the relegation zone.

Nolan drove home the opener in the 26th minute after Andy Carroll headed down a cross for the midfieler.

The England striker then turned provider once again on the stroke of half-time as the Hammers went 2-0 up when Nolan headed home from a corner.

We didn’t allow Swansea one shot on target so I think it says a lot for the way we played

Sam Allardyce

Carroll was harshly sent off after appearing to catch Chico Flores accidentally with his arm on the hour-mark, but West Ham held on to win and move up to 17th place in the table.

“My players were brilliant today,” Allardyce told BT Sport. “It’s a fantastic result and under the circumstances, where we had 10 men for the last 35 minutes, Swansea did not have a shot on goal that was on target.

“We didn’t allow Swansea one shot on target so I think it says a lot for the way we played the game in possession and when we weren’t in possession.

“[The red card] spoiled the fact that we’ve done brilliantly today, we’ve contained Swansea and found good goals from two good finishes.”