West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic was not impressed with the performance his side put in against Accrington Stanley on Wednesday night but stated that the most important thing is that his side are through to the next round of the EFL Cup.
The game allowed the Croatian trainer to rotate his squad and the clash was expected to be a formality, but the Football League visitors put up resistance against their Premier League counterparts.
Bilic was forced to introduce key playmakers Dimitri Payet and Manuel Lanzini from the bench, with the former scoring a last-gasp free-kick to avoid extra time and send the Hammers through to the next round.
On the back of a number of consecutive defeats in the Premier League, the win will be a welcome boost for West Ham but it appeared that a host of the home side’s players were low on confidence.
Bilic said that although it was by no means a vintage showing from his side, the win was the most important thing.
“The main thing was to go through,” he told BT Sport.
“We expected an easier win, with the greatest respect, and not to have to do it in the last minute.
“We wanted to progress and that’s why we brought Dimitri, and Manuel Lanzini and Michail Antonio on.
“We went down to 10 men but we wanted to score before extra time and then, a great moment from a great player. We didn’t play good but I thought we deserved to win.
“It was not exactly what we wanted tonight – but it’s a win.”
West Ham will face London rivals Chelsea in the next round of the competition.
