Nathan Holland praised the character and desire shown by West Ham United’s PL2 side as they overcame a two-goal deficit to beat Tottenham 3-2 on Monday afternoon.
West Ham trailed 2-0 at half time, before goals from Dan Kemp, Josh Pask and an outstanding 25-yard curler from Holland completed the comeback, extending West Ham’s unbeaten start to the season.
“It shows our character and desire.” Holland explained after the game. “Terry [Westley] didn’t need to say much at half-time.
“We all knew that wasn’t the standards that Terry expects from us. Liam [Manning] and Terry expect much more from us and we wanted to show everyone what we are really about.
“All of the lads did that, we dug deep and we got the win in the end.”
West Ham came flying out of the traps after the restart, with Dan Kemp poking home Vashon Neufville’s low cross on 49 minutes, before Holland’s equaliser just six minutes later.
In fact, Kemp and Holland were a constant threat to the Spurs defenders, especially in the second period. Their aggressive, direct running with the ball opened up the hosts on multiple occasions; a tactic that West Ham looked to exploit whenever the opportunity was presented.
“We knew that the way they like to play is very open so if we could nick it and counter-attack, play very wide, then we can hurt them and that’s exactly what happened in the second half,” the former Everton man continued. “Obviously it’s paid off with the goals.”
The match was truly lit up on 55 minutes when Holland and Grady Diangana combined on the left flank. The Hammers’ January signing eventually picked it up 25-yards out, on the corner of the penalty area, took a touch and then unleashed a stunning curling effort past Brandon Austin in the Spurs goal.
As soon as it left his boot, there was nowhere else it was heading except the top corner. Not a bad way to open the account for 2017/18…
The West Ham winger is not new to scoring the odd screamer though, having already done something similar against Fulham and West Bromwich Albion last season.
“When I came inside, I went for the far corner and as soon as I connected with it, I had a good feeling it was going in – luckily it did!” he laughed.
The win ensured West Ham preserved their unbeaten start to the new campaign, having already beaten Swindon Town and been held at home by Everton, but Holland is not getting carried away.
“We’ve done very well so far” he admitted. “All the players have stuck to the task, worked hard and hopefully we can keep that going, starting on Sunday against Swansea.”