West Ham’s fine away form continued with a 2-0 win over Middlesbrough last night.
An early goal from Freddie Piquionne and an injury time strike from substitute Carlton Cole earned the Irons all three points against their Championship promotion rivals and left manager Sam Allardyce a happy man.
He said: “It was as close as it can get I think to the perfect away performance. It was a fantastic start. We were on the front foot, we wanted to impose our own football on them and we did just that.
“We were glad to see Freddie score because he had three good chances on Saturday and missed them. That got us off to a fantastic start. You would expect Middlesbrough to come back as they haven’t lost here for a long time but the defence was solid.”
Guy Demel made his West Ham debut after finally regaining fitness following his signing on transfer deadline day and he looked assured at right-back.
Allardyce also paid tribute to the West Ham fans who made the long trek north on a chilly Tuesday evening.
He said: “We are all happy. I look at the 1,500 fans who have travelled all this way on a Tuesday night. They are sat out there in the freezing cold but they will be happy to have seen a victory and it will have made the journey home that much better.”
The Dutch Hammers 