Tomas Soucek could not contain his delight after scoring his first West Ham United goal, helping the Irons to an entertaining 3-2 victory over Chelsea on Wednesday.
The midfielder levelled for the Hammers in added time in the first half, after Willian had scored from the penalty spot to give Chelsea the lead, with Michail Antonio and Andriy Yarmolenko netting in the second period to secure the hard-fought three points.
Such a resolute performance merited the win and Soucek said he and his teammates could not be happier with how Wednesday’s Premier League fixture concluded.
“I am very happy to win this game. I was in the changing room and everyone is very happy,” Soucek said. “We have had to wait a long time for a win and, during the season suspension, it was a tough, long time.
“I think we won against a very good team and we are very happy. We’ve trained very hard and we are happy. We now need to get more points in our coming games.”
The game could have had a different narrative had Soucek’s initial first West Ham goal – which came ten minutes before his actual first goal – been allowed to stand.
The 25-year-old saw a close-range effort disallowed following a lengthy VAR review, which determined that Michail Antonio – laying on the pitch near Soucek – was marginally offside.
Despite the frustration of his struck-off finish, Soucek was thrilled he was able to follow up that disappointment with an allowed finish just a few minutes later.
He continued: “I was a bit angry because, in the last game, I scored an own-goal after a handball and then, against Chelsea, I scored and I think Michail didn’t touch the ball. He told me he didn’t touch it too.
“But then luck was on our side and I was able to score my first goal for West Ham ten minutes later!”
Having helped the Irons secure a huge three points against Chelsea, another massive game in the battle against relegation awaits on Sunday as West Ham travel to the north east to play Newcastle.
Fresh off the back of such a thrilling victory, Soucek is ready to test himself against the Magpies this weekend.
He added: “I am excited for the next game. We need points and now we have two recovery days and we will go to Newcastle, which we look forward to. For us, it is a better situation now.”
