Robert Snodgrass hailed the ‘delightful’ moment he ended his long wait for a first Premier League goal for West Ham United.
The Scotland winger broke his duck in spectacular fashion, launching an unstoppable half-volley into the top corner of the Crystal Palace net as the Hammers came from behind to beat Crystal Palace 3-2 at London Stadium.
Snodgrass, whose goal levelled the scores at 1-1 before further strikes from Chicharito and Felipe Anderson put the game beyond Palace, celebrated with as much passion as he has shown in every appearance he has made in Claret and Blue.
“It does mean a lot to me,” the No11 admitted. “I’ve been waiting a long moment to score a goal in the Premier League for West Ham and to get it in that fashion and get the win was delightful.”
Overall, it’s a magic win, it’s a great win and a great win for the fans as well. It’s three in three, which we haven’t done for a while
Robert Snodgrass
Before Snodgrass’s equaliser three minutes into the second half, the Irons had struggled to turn possession into chances, having fallen behind within six minutes to James McArthur’s close-range strike.
However, Manuel Pellegrini’s side showed real spirit and believe to turn the game around with three goals in the space of 17 minutes and make it three Premier League victories in a row for the first time since December 2016.
“It was hard,” Snodgrass admitted. “We weren’t really at the races in the first half and in terms of taking our chances but I thought we passed it well.
“They got a goal from a set piece and then we scored three good goals and made it hard and nervy for ourselves from another set piece. It was a short corner and we needed to be out to it a bit quicker.
“Overall, though, it’s a magic win, it’s a great win and a great win for the fans as well. It’s three in three, which we haven’t done for a while.”
West Ham are now up to tenth in the table and within a few points of the top six ahead of next Saturday’s trip to Fulham.
While nobody is getting carried away, a run of one defeat in seven – to champions Manchester City – is real cause for optimism.
“When you lose the first four games, I don’t think the fans would have thought we’d be winning three on the bounce and scoring three goals a game,” Snodgrass observed, with a smile.
“It’s really good at the moment but we must build on it. As a team, we need to stop conceding goals.
“There are a lot of games coming up and a lot of people in the squad who want to play. We’ll rotate the squad as we did against Cardiff on Tuesday and I think you’ve seen lads come in and do well, then we made a couple of changes and the lads came back in and did well.
“We’re just trying to build the momentum through the whole squad and it’s working.”