"It is always nice to get your first home league win and it has lifted us off the bottom as well - but it is just the start," he says.
"We now have to press home and get out of the bottom three - and we don't want to waste the work of Wednesday, which has been a long time coming.
"The fans have had to suffer and we want to give them something back from now to the end of the season - and we have given ourselves a great chance now.
"If we sit back and rest on one home win we are going to be relegated; I don't think this club should be, but no one has a divine right to stay up - and we have to make sure come the last day of the season we are still in the Premiership."
Nigel, of course, wasn't involved in the 6-0 drubbing at Manchester United which so shell shocked those involved, but he says:
"I think the lads were a bit dejected the next day - that is what happens in football.
"But they are professional people and they picked themselves up really quickly - and showed a lot of character, because if you are weak in the mind after a defeat like that, and you are at home with all your fans questioning you, it is actually harder.
"We really wanted to show them we are still committed and want to stay in the Premiership.
"One or two outside the club have questioned the players' commitment and I think they have responded, and of course people kept talking about West Ham not winning at home in the league - it is only natural for that to be playing on your mind a little bit.
"But, really, that game is just the start because there is more to do in the 13 games coming up and we have to make sure we keep winning games.
"We may have broken the league hoodoo but it will all be wasted if we don't keep getting results and that is our aim; it was nice to celebrate the win on Wednesday but it was only the start and there is a long way to go.
"No side is too good to go down, but we have good enough players to stay up; I don't like to highlight anybody, though, because it is about 11 players and against Blackburn the subs played their part as well - we are all in it together."
The man dubbed 'The Warrior' by Glenn Roeder may have conceded the free kick that led to the opponents' goal, but in the end it proved academic.
"We were disappointed at going 1-0 down," he admits, "because we created a few early chances and, although there were a couple of scrambles in our box, Blackburn didn't really create that much.
"But we said at half time that we have for 45 minutes to show what we are all about, and whether we want to give ourselves the chance to stay up - and we have done that."
Nigel feels the subs' bench being so strong on Wednesday proved a significant factor in that home win; it was the 'best bench' for a long time with Fredi Kanoute [82 starts alone for the club], Jermain Defoe [40 starts], Fredi Kanoute [82 starts], and Trevor Sinclair [180 starts] sitting alongside Raimond van der Gouw in the dugout.
And, with the signing of Rufus Brevett to add to competition for his place - not to mention the fact that he has a wrist operation upcoming - he says the signs are positive.
"This is the strongest squad in a lot of positions I have known since I have been at West Ham," says Nigel.
"That is good, because if someone has a lack of confidence they can be rested and someone else can come in."
As for the opposition on Sunday, Liverpool, Nigel adds:
"It is going to be difficult because they are a good team but if we show the same commitment we can get something from the game.
"Perhaps we can get a lucky break - we need another win, really, and though we will give them the respect they deserve but if we put them under pressure you have always got a chance.
"Every game you go into you have got to believe you are going to win - and that is the way it has got to be from now until the end of the season.
"They do have a fantastic side but have had a blip recently and are coming through it; we will have to show the same desire and commitment we did on Wednesday."
Commitment is something as vital as talent in the current predicament, thinks Nigel, who adds:
"I think everybody at the club has a responsibility at the club to make sure we don't sulk and think about what has gone on; we have to press on - and you almost have to forget what has happened from the start of the season to now.
"There are almost four teams in a mini-league, really, and we have to finish top of it - hopefully we will be brave enough to survive but it is about 100% commitment.
"Sometimes you play well and sometimes you don't, but it is easier to accept if you have given your all and you can get up in the morning and look forward to the next game.
"That is what I have done throughout my career; I have never guaranteed that I could play well but I always try to give 100% commitment to what I do.
"Glenn asked the players to respond after Old Trafford and we have done that - which shows we are still behind him."
No one more so than Jermain Defoe who, despite being back on the bench against Blackburn, is a happy man after stepping off it to grab his sixth league goal of the season.
"Jermain's an exciting player but he's still learning the game; he has had difficult periods this season because basically he's had to play up front on his own but over the last few weeks I think he's come through it a stronger person," says Nigel.
"We all know he can score goals and, if he keeps working hard - as I am sure he will - then I have no doubt he will be a regular in the England squad."
But it is the team as a whole he is most concerned about, and he repeats the mantra echoed by the other players.
"Hopefully now we can carry on winning because if we don't we will be back to square one," he insists.
And square one is definitely not the place he, or any of his colleagues, wants to be.