Julian Dicks heaped praise on match-winner Nikica Jelavic after the Croat’s first West Ham United goal booked the Hammers’ passage into round four of the Emirates FA Cup.
Wolverhampton Wanderers proved no pushovers at the Boleyn Ground and it took some 84 minutes for Jelavic’s fine finish to break the deadlock.
The 30-year-old has had to bide his time since signing for the Club but, when the opportunity presented itself on Saturday, he took it with both hands, much to the relief of Coaching Assistant Dicks and his colleagues.
“It was a great finish,” he told West Ham TV. “He does that in training every day. To do it at that time, it was a fantastic finish. He works hard, he doesn't always get his rewards but this time he did.
“We knew it was going to be a tough game against Wolves and it proved to be. They weren't the best conditions either but the lads stuck to it and we got a result.”
Wolverhampton Wanderers proved no pushovers at the Boleyn Ground and it took some 84 minutes for Jelavic’s fine finish to break the deadlock.
The 30-year-old has had to bide his time since signing for the Club but, when the opportunity presented itself on Saturday, he took it with both hands, much to the relief of Coaching Assistant Dicks and his colleagues.
“It was a great finish,” he told West Ham TV. “He does that in training every day. To do it at that time, it was a fantastic finish. He works hard, he doesn't always get his rewards but this time he did.
“We knew it was going to be a tough game against Wolves and it proved to be. They weren't the best conditions either but the lads stuck to it and we got a result.”
The visitors’ stubborn resistance came as no surprise to Dicks who had expected a stern examination against a well-drilled Championship outfit.
He continued: “We struggled to break them down. We kept trying to go through the middle instead of getting it out wide, maybe to Cress and Jenks, and getting the ball in the box that way.
“Kenny [Jackett] gets them fired up, they've got some big, strong, physical players and as soon as we got the ball, they got nine, ten behind the ball. So it was difficult for us to break them down, but with teams like that you just have to keep going.
“Our crosses in the first half, our end product wasn't good enough. But I think over the course of the 90 minutes it was a fair result.”
Aside from victory itself, Dicks was delighted to see the fit-again Winston Reid play his full part in yet another clean sheet, not least with a tricky midweek trip to Bournemouth just around the corner.
“It's nice to have your players back and Winston's been out for a while,” he added. “It was nice for him to come through 90 minutes and keeping a clean sheet is always good.
“I think they've said that's seven or eight clean sheets that we've kept, which is good. Obviously some of those we drew 0-0, but if you keep a clean sheet you always have a chance of winning.
“It was good that we could rest players, with the likes of Andy and Dimitri [on the bench]. But Bournemouth will be a tough game, they won on Saturday as well and they'll be full of confidence.
“We know what they're about, because of what happened here [earlier in the season] and it will be a tough game for us."