Saturday 22 April 2017 20:00, UK
West Ham manager Slaven Bilic praised his side's performance insisted they deserved all three points after they were held to a 0-0 draw by Everton.
The Hammers produced a superb defensive performance with centre-backs Winston Reid, Jose Fonte and James Collins limiting Romelu Lukaku to a single blocked shot.
And they produced the better chances but it proved to be a frustrating afternoon for Bilic and his side.
"We deserved to win," Bilic told Sky Sports. "To be fair I couldn't have asked for more from my players and I told them that in the dressing room.
"We can talk a little bit about a lack of quality decisions in and around the box but the spirit, the determination, the team effort, the defensive side of the game and how solid we were was excellent.
"It's not easy," he added. "We can talk about how they were not good but it is Everton, a team that's very capable of creating chances and scoring goals. To limit them to not a single chance in the whole game you need quality and effort and that's what we had.
"I'm only gutted that we didn't win the game."
Bilic admitted before the game that he was wary of Lukaku's impressive goalscoring run against his side, with the 23-year-old scoring in nine consecutive games against the Hammers.
At times this season West ham's defending has been called into question, but that was not the problem against Everton. And Bilic praised his side for their meticulous approach to the game.
"During the season we've scored enough goals," Bilic said.
"Not today obviously but for us it's been the question of conceding goals. Against Everton we were great in that but with this game there is frustration because we didn't have clear cut opportunities.
"We did have eight or nine situations though where we could have scored and we couldn't but it is very positive. It was a really good team performance in front of a great crowd. We got a point but we wanted three.
"We knew it would be extremely hard but we go to the next game in a very positive way."
The point means West Ham are seven points above the relegation places with only four games remaining but Bilic insists the battle to best the drop is far from over.
"Unfortunately it's not a point that guarantees safety," he added.
"Swansea won the game and Hull won the game so it's still not sorted. However, what pleases me is the performance and we move on to the next game."
