Nuno Espirito Santo admitted West Ham enjoyed a “special night” after they boosted their chances of Premier League survival with a crucial 1-0 win at Fulham.
Crysencio Summerville continued his one-man mission to save the Hammers with his seventh goal in his last 10 appearances.
Victory meant West Ham, who looked dead and buried six weeks ago when they were seven points adrift of safety, moved level with 17th-placed Nottingham Forest.
And if Tottenham wanted further proof that they are also deep in the relegation battle, West Ham and Forest are now just a point behind them.
“It’s a special night because we did a good game in a tough, tough stadium against a very good team, with a good manager, fantastic players,” said Hammers boss Nuno.
“We know how hard it is to come here and to achieve a result. That’s what pleases us the most.
“We don’t measure belief, we always have belief, we always have hope, what we need is improvement.
“Today was a big, big day for us, but the situation never changed. Nothing has changed. It required a lot more from all of us.”
Summerville struck midway through the second half after a bad mistake by Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno.
The German came charging out of his area only to make a mess of his clearance allowing Summerville to finish into an empty net
“He’s being very important, and I think he kept his composure, in that moment just to do a pass into the goal,” added Nuno.
“He’s been in a good moment, he’s full of confidence, that’s why I’m saying let’s try to take advantage of this talented player that we have up front. To do that we have to defend, we have to be resilient.”
West Ham, unlike earlier in the season, were resilient, with Mads Hermansen making fine saves from Josh King, in the first half, and Emile Smith Rowe during nine minutes of stoppage time.
“Tight game,” said Fulham boss Marco Silva. “Not many chances. We had a big chance with Josh in the first half and should have scored.
“Second half we started well until the mistake. The game was going in the direction we thought it would be.
“We gave the goal away and took a bit of time to react. We lost a game that we shouldn’t have. It was a disappointing night for us.”
Fulham had a penalty decision overturned after a VAR check while West Ham midfielder Mateus Fernandes was perhaps lucky to escape a second yellow card from referee Matthew Dononue after bringing down King on the edge of the box.
“If you give the second yellow card the game is going to be completely different,” added Silva.
“The game was not the most beautiful game, for sure. The performance from the referee was not at the level, as well.”
