The boss told West Ham TV, “It is a fantastic start, was great entertainment from the fans and a really positive display by ourselves. In a game of football over 90 minutes we do many things but the one thing we did do was dominate the game, dominate possession and create chances.
“I was delighted with Joe’s goal but then Joe told me at the end of the game that he should have had a hat-trick before half-time! I wasn’t really going to bring that up because we had done enough and we won the game. We may talk about it later in the week, but it shows you his disappointment. He said two of his easier chances were a header on the far post from a cross from Jarvis and when he went one-on-one with the ‘keeper and he made the wrong decision by trying to chip him.
“We were probably a little disappointed it was only 1-0 at half-time, then we had to work it out because Cardiff changed the way they played. Then we lost a little bit of control in the second half, but defended the way we know we can without the opposition creating any chances in that spell.
“Then, of course, we started playing out on the break a bit more and we came up with a quality second goal. The ball into Maiga from Mark Noble and he controls it, back into Stewart Downing, to Noble to Nolan and he puts it into the back of the net as we all know he can do. That’s him one in one again and he got five in ten at the start of last season.
“It was excellent and just what we were looking for and at the defensive end we were so good, Cardiff only had one shot on goal in the entire 90 minutes.”