Dyer all smiles again

Alex Dyer was brimming with pride after Monday's 2-0 Barclays Premier Reserve League South win at Arsenal.

Dyer's players - some of whom have been told they will be leaving the club in the summer - followed their manager's instructions to the letter at Underhill, adapting superbly to a new 3-5-2 formation to score a disciplined victory, which followed hot on the heels of success against Chelsea's second string.

While Davide Ferrari and Terry Dixon found the scoresheet and goalkeeper Peter Kurucz produced an outstanding display, every single player contributed to the Gunners' downfall.

At the back, captain Jordan Spence marshalled a back-three containing scholars Sergio Sanchez and Jordan Brown, Ferrari and Olly Lee provided width, while Josh Payne caught the eye in the centre of midfield. Up front, Dixon and Ahmed Abdulla constantly harried the Arsenal back-four.

"It was an excellent night's work," said Dyer, whose side had beaten Chelsea last time out. "The boys worked hard from back to front. We played a different formation because I thought - I've watched Arsenal every year and they play such good football - that it would be nice if we could go and close up shop a little bit without stopping our own attacking shape.

"I played three centre-halves who were very compact, and I had two wing-backs who could get up and down the flanks. The three midfield men in front of them did well too. Josh Payne, who has been released, put in a great performance.

"You take your hats off to the boys who have got to look for other clubs. They could have easily gone through the motions, but they need to show people that they can perform and they can play - and they all can play. It was a good result for the club."

Dyer's plan was to allow Arsenal to keep the ball, but shut down their space as they approached the penalty area. With three centre-backs playing tight to one another, the Gunners were unable to thread balls through the West Ham defence until the final few minutes.

When they did, Dutch midfielder Nacer Barazite and defender Ignasi Miquel found Hungarian Kurucz in inspired form.

"Even though we scored early, before we did, we didn't really get a kick of the ball and I was thinking 'Did I do the right thing?'. We worked on it, and knew we might have to give up possession and play on the counterattack, but when we broke we were sharp. We had a few opportunities in the whole game and we scored from two of them through two clinical finishes.

"For us to win the game, it was also important that our goalkeeper played well and he was outstanding. He made four or five outstanding saves. He wants to play in the reserve-team games and he came and performed excellently. You take your hat off to the goalkeeper coaches - Jerome John works hard with him when he's with us."

Dyer was also delighted to see his own tactical plan come to fruition, but was quick to pass the credit from himself on to his young players.

"I'm pleased that we got the points that we deserved. I'm chuffed because it was the first time I'd had a group of players to work with for a period of time. We worked out a few days ago what we were going to do and they gave it a good go. It was in their hearts though, and they all gave 100 per cent and wanted to do well. Collectively, it worked well for us."

*For highlights of Monday's victory and exclusive post-match reaction from captain Jordan Spence and goalkeeper Peter Kurucz, visit WHUTV on Tuesday.