Nuno Espírito Santo hugged his coaching staff at the final whistle, then led his squad on a lap of appreciation around the London Stadium pitch.
West Ham United had won a Premier League match for the first time under the Portuguese Head Coach - and won it in style, 3-1 over Newcastle United.
It was a victory - the Hammers' first on home turf in eight months - that saw Nuno's pre-match words put into action by his players.
After challenging Lucas Paquetá to rise to the challenge of wearing the No10 shirt, the Brazilian produced an outstanding all-round performance capped by a superb 25-yard equaliser.
After handing 22-year-old Freddie Potts a full Premier League debut and giving the Academy graduate and 21-year-old Mateus Fernandes the responsibility to man the midfield against experienced, proven top-flight players, they did just that.
After asking his players to produce a performance the Claret and Blue Army could be proud of, they did just that.
The result was a deserved come-from-behind win as Nuno’s team overcame the disappointment of falling behind, twice hitting the woodwork, having a penalty decision overturned and a goal for homegrown hero Potts disallowed for offside on review.
It is the first step, the Head Coach hopes, towards climbing the table and re-establishing the Hammers as a Premier League force.
It was a very important win for all of us at the Club.
The way the game started, we started really well. We hit the post in a fantastic move, then they go back on the counter and they score.
It felt like everything again was against us. We had a penalty overruled. But the team kept going, the boys kept working very hard, organised and playing good.
I think there were moments before [we scored] the [first] goal that we felt that the goal was there and truly deserved.
I think we achieved the draw and then the second goal because the ambition was there. That's for us the most important aspect of the game, the way we reacted against adversity.
The confidence boost is huge.
I think to win the way we did it, I think for us it's to realise how important it is that we have to be organised, how important it is to work off the ball and how important it is to be compact, to be together, to not allow teams to play freely.
Because after we have the ball we can consider and go forward, but as long as we are basically compact and solid in the way we want to approach the competition, in the Premier League especially, we cannot afford to not work harder, to sacrifice ourselves.
So that was the message and that's the way the boys [need to play].
I think Freddie and Mateus did a good game.
The idea was to try and control the middle against Newcastle because they have Bruno, they have Joelinton, they have some quality players.
If you allow them to play free, they're going to put you against the road, so realising that you had to work very hard was good and the young guys did it.
It was important to see that we were suffering but not conceding.
We were being resilient without the ball, realising that if we are organised it's hard to beat us. So it’s a small step in the way we had to improve.
We gave the fans just this [little bit] and they gave us [a lot], and we cannot thank them enough.
We realise the hard moments [they have had], all these things, but we gave them a little bit and they gave us so much back.
They helped the boys so much in the end, the noise and jumping. You can feel it, it was hard for Newcastle to beat us today because it was more than 60,000.
We gave them a little bit, let's try to give them slightly more against Burnley so they can help us again.
For us, for you, for the Club, what is more important is for us as the Club is that this win means so much.
It's a little step, but it means so much.
