Tomáš Souček hailed West Ham United’s tenacity and spirit in fighting back from a goal down to claim a 2-1 win at Burnley.
The hosts had the advantage thanks to Jay Rodriguez’s penalty on 49 minutes and seemed to be heading towards a first home win of the season, with the Irons struggling to create clear-cut chances on a cold afternoon in Lancashire.
But the Hammers refused to halt in their hunt for more Premier League points and got a deserved leveller when Mohammed Kudus’ powerful cross was turned in for an own goal by Dara O’Shea under pressure from Divin Mubama.
Two minutes into added time, the third goal of the match was scored by West Ham. Another Kudus cross was met superbly by Souček, with the midfielder volleying in for his fourth goal in as many games for Club and country.
The 28-year-old admitted the squad were less than satisfied with their performance in the first half but showed immense character to turn the tide at Turf Moor late on.
“At half-time, the boys weren’t happy and the manager wasn’t happy,” Souček told West Ham TV. “We said at half-time that we were playing very slowly and we needed to play forward to try and score the goals.
“We came out and, within a few minutes, we’d conceded so it was even more difficult. But the last 20 minutes was better for us. We did good pressing and kept the ball, and created a few chances and got a few shots. The last five minutes was even better because we scored two great goals and we won the game.
“There was a moment when Burnley had a corner and I just said to the others: ‘Come on guys, we need to do better and keep believing’. We managed that and, because of our spirit and our belief, we won all three points.”
Souček’s finish was a winning goal for the Hammers once again, having netted late to secure all three points against Nottingham Forest prior to the international break, and the midfielder is now up to nine goals for the campaign across his domestic and international outings.
He continued: “I am very happy. Before the international break, I got the winning goal against Nottingham Forest and then I also got two very important goals for the Czech Republic. I’m so happy that we qualified for the European Championship, because it wasn’t easy and there was pressure on us.
“And then, I’ve come back from internationals and I’ve got another goal, and other winning goal! It’s a perfect thing and I just want to keep working hard and be ready for another game.”
The Czech Republic captain admitted returning to best form in club football can be a challenge after a demanding international fixture schedule, but Souček is thrilled the Hammers have returned to domestic duties with a victory.
Even more satisfactory was getting to celebrate another winning goal in front of the travelling Claret and Blue Army.
“It's always difficult after an international break because everyone is somewhere else in the world,” he added. “We had one or two sessions to get ready for Burnley for it’s very difficult for the manager, for us, and for everyone. But we needed to win this game.
“Now we are higher in the table and now we have a long time before the next international break. We have a lot of games now to work towards.
“We’re all together. I’m so happy we won for our fans because we didn’t play well enough going into half-time, and they stayed with us, and after that we scored the goals in front of them which was great. We gave back to them after they supported us through the whole game.”
