Matthew Etherington couldn't hide his delight at putting the finishing touch to our memorable 3-2 win at Arsenal on Wednesday night.
The Hammers winger emerged from the Highbury dressing-rooms for the final time with a huge smile on his face, having scored the vital third goal to ensure our third successive victory in the Premiership, and admitted that the occasion will live long in the memory.
"It was a brilliant night for everyone connected with West Ham United," said Matty. "The gaffer said afterwards that we haven't won here for 11 years, so it was a momentous win for the Club.
"They started off like the Arsenal of old, pinging the ball around for fun, and looked awesome at times. It was just a matter of weathering the early storm, which we did, and then hitting them on the break.
"After that, I thought we played the better football and overall, we deserved the three points."
[quote]"I think everyone here feels that we are on the
verge of turning a good season into a great one." Matthew
Etherington [/quote]
[PAGE]Matty's 80th minute strike at Highbury followed his goal in Saturday's FA Cup win against Blackburn Rovers and, having waited since the opening day of the campaign for that moment, the 24-year-old is now celebrating two in the space of four days!
"Yeah, its funny how things happen like that," he smiled. "I've been saying recently that I need to score more goals, and I go and get two in two games.
"Hopefully, I can make it three in three on Saturday, because goalscoring is a part of my game that I really want to improve, and it's important for the team that the midfielders weigh in with a few.
"As long as we're winning, though, I'll be happy whoever scores the goals, and a lot of credit has got to go to our defenders, especially Danny and Anton. They kept one of the best players in the world quiet for most of the night, and you could see how frustrated he was when he ran off at the end."
Frustration certainly wasn't on show in the Hammers dressing-room at the end of the game and, with Alan Pardew's team hitting another run of superb form at a crucial stage of the season, Matty admitted that ambitions are rising all the time.
"We've just got to keep going," he said. "We're looking above us now rather than below us, and who knows what can happen if we keep playing like this.
"There's a tricky cup tie against Bolton to come but,
if we get through that, it will really set us up. I think everyone
here feels that we are on the verge of turning a good season into a
great one, and we'll be going all out to do that."