West Ham manager Alan Pardew hailed his 'brave' players after victory over Blackburn.
West Ham manager Alan Pardew hailed his 'brave' players after the club ended their worst losing run for over 70 years with victory over Blackburn on Sunday.
The Hammers had lost eight matches in a row in all competitions, before goals from Teddy Sheringham and Hayden Mullins earned a 2-1 win at Upton Park.
Pardew, who endured a difficult week following a Carling Cup upset at Chesterfield, believes Sheringham was the root of all that was good about The Hammers in the first half, and the former Reading boss also paid tribute to Mullins and captain Nigel Reo-Coker.
"It's been a long wait. There's not been too much wrong with us, just that little bit of quality, and I thought the first goal summed up what we've been missing," Pardew told Sky Sports 1.
"Teddy was the catalyst for a lot of good things in the first half. I thought we deserved to win today, because I thought coming off the run of defeats, however many we've had, I don't want to talk about it, you don't usually get a win, normally it's a draw and we did get very nervous. The fans and players deserve it.
"The players were very, very brave today, our central midfield players - Hayden and Nige were under a lot of pressure with the way Blackburn set up and I thought they got on the ball and were brave enough.
"I was very pleased that no-one hid because this is not the place for hiding.
"We stood up and were counted today and I'm proud of them and the fans were special today and they showed that quality that some grounds just can't get.
"I thought Mark Hughes changed it tactically at half time realising that Ted wasn't going to go and close full backs down so they started dominating play and we got nervous and defended deep.
"You have to dig deep then and show your character - we had chances on the break though, and unfortunately didn't take them.
"When we got two I thought we were home and dry, but in the West Ham way we let them have a goal."
Pardew now hopes his second can build on their climb out of the relegation zone.
"That will help because the pressure does begin to mount and perhaps we can go back to that quality and exuberance we showed last year," added Pardew.
