West Ham manager Slaven Bilic was clearly relieved to get his first home win behind him after his sides 2-0 victory over Newcastle.

Bilic has suffered two home shock defeats against Bournemouth and Leicester but the Hammers were the better team from the start on Monday night, though this may have been aided by Newcastle only arriving at the ground 20 minutes before kick-off. 

The away side tried to get the kick-off put back 15 minutes but the Premier League were having none of it.

Bilic was pleased that his side played with pace, skill and were solid in both defence and holding Newcastle in their own half. 

“It was a big relief to get the win at home, great for the confidence,” said Bilic, who was full of praise for man of the match Dimitri Payet.

The manager said he had been a fan for a long time, trying to sign Payet for Besikitas last season. He added how he had made it clear to West Ham’s owners that Payet was his first choice and he was surprised when the signing was completed in five days. “He is a player who gets goals but also makes players around him better as well,” said Bilic.

The French international has settled well to the Premier League, scoring both goals in this game. Most of West Ham’s swift passing football had the little Frenchman at the heart of it.

It was in the eighth minute, when a neat back heel from Diafra Sakho set up Mark Noble to square the ball for Payet to sweetly curl the ball into the top right-hand corner from the edge of the penalty area.

Another constant threat to the Newcastle rearguard came from debutant Victor Moses, whose pace down the left regularly opened up the visitors.

The second half was just two minutes old when a headed clearance from Winston Reid was seized on by Moses, who outpaced the defender to unleash a vicious shot which bounced back off the bar. The ball fell kindly to Payet who placed it into the net.

Newcastle were not an entirely impotent force but the couple of times they broke free, keeper Darren Randolph thwarted their efforts.

Newcastle boss Steve McClaren was unhappy with the result and the refusal of the Premier League to put back the kick off. 

“We lacked quality in the final third. We didn’t do the basics tonight, which we have in the first four games,” said McClaren who said he was looking for a big reaction in the game on Saturday.