Tomáš Souček dedicated his first-half goal to newborn son Daniel after capping off a memorable week by playing a key role in West Ham United’s first league win away at Manchester United for 18 years.
The 30-year-old, who welcomed his third child to the world alongside wife Natálie in the days before the Hammers' trip to Old Trafford, popped up in familiar fashion at close range to finish off an impressive 30-pass team move the 26th minute, before making a nod to his family with his celebration.
After going into half-time one goal up, Graham Potter’s troops came out firing in the second period, and skipper Jarrod Bowen took the game away from the Red Devils with his team's second 12 minutes after the break.
The 2-0 scoreline earned the visitors a first win in the red half of Manchester since Carlos Tevez inspired a crucial 1-0 triumph back in 2007, and after helping his team end an eight-game winless run, at such a poignant point of his life, Souček was understandably delighted.
“My son’s unbeaten as a West Ham fan!” beamed our No28, whose goal was his ninth of the 2024/25 season. “He's already got a West Ham shirt, and I’ve scored goals for both of my daughters, so I needed to score for my son as well!
“It’s great that all this happened just three days after he (Daniel) was born. I'm proud of the whole family, particularly of my wife, and I can’t wait to go and see them back at home now and celebrate.
“I’m really proud of the team today, too. We know things haven’t been great, but we wanted to show how much we care, and do everything we could to get a result.
“I think collectively we put everything together, and showed our character as well as the talent we have. I always try to be in a good position on the pitch at the right moment, and thankfully that happened today, and it was great to be able to enjoy the victory with the fans.”
West Ham’s tenth win of the campaign, and fifth away from home, lifted them above Manchester United and up to 15th in the standings, just two points below Everton in 13th.
While Souček and his teammates are hoping for maximum points from their final fixtures at home to Nottingham Forest and away at Ipswich, the Czechia international is also hoping to help Aaron Cresswell, Łukasz Fabiański, Vladimír Coufal and Danny Ings sign off from their time at the Club in the right way, after their departures were confirmed on Friday.
Souček added: “We still have a few goals to achieve before the end of the season. We want to finish as high in the table as possible, and build momentum for next season with two wins from our final two games.
“Also we will be saying goodbye to some great members of the West Ham family, so we want to do well for them. I’m not scared to call them legends of the Club, because they helped up win the cup (UEFA Europa Conference League). It’s going to be a good couple of weeks and I’m really excited!”
