Alex Dyer was delighted to see the reserves grind out a 2-1 victory against Chelsea on Wednesday night despite extremely difficult conditions at Woodside Park.
Prior to the match there were concerns the Bishop's Stortford pitch would not hold up to the torrential rain across Essex but the fears proved unfounded. Goals in each half from Anthony Edgar and Olly Lee won it for the home side, who also coped well with Manuel da Costa's second-half red card for violent conduct.
"First of all, I have to give credit to Bishop's Stortford," said Dyer. "They played on the pitch the night before and it was in doubt a little bit. The groundsman has worked miracles. The boys got on the pitch and went out with the right attitude. It rained a lot and there were strong winds but the boys had the right attitude from the start.
"They got the ball down when they could. We gave them instructions that if you can't play you have got to hit the ball long and put the ball into areas where we can turn them and get up the pitch a little bit. When it was time, we got the ball down and played."
Dyer paid tribute to his namesake Kieron, who like Marek Stech, Fabio Daprela, Junior Stanislas and Da Costa had all travelled with the first team to Manchester United the night before. Chelsea gave away a lot in terms of senior experience but had the benefit of being an established unit that had come through the youth ranks.
"It was a great performance all-round. The boys worked hard. It was a good performance from the senior lads who came in. Kieron played an hour and he was excellent. Fabio came in and led the team well as captain.
"It was good to see. Young George Moncur made his debut for the reserves and he was excellent in midfield as was Jordan Spence at right-back. He was breaking up and down the wing and he defended like a proper defender should do."
West Ham United reserves: Stech, Spence, 'Gala, Da Costa (sent off 66), Daprela, Dyer (Wearen 59), Lee, Moncur (Kearns 83), Stanislas, Abdulla, Edgar (Subuola 87)
Subs not used: Cowler, Brown