West Ham manager Sam Allardyce feels his side made hard work of their 1-0 win over Burnley at Upton Park today.

The Hammers took the lead in the 24th minute after Mark Noble fired the hosts ahead from the penalty spot. The game turned on the penalty decision, with Burnley defender Michael Duff being controversially sent off for tripping up Cheikhou Kouyate in the box.




West Ham huffed and puffed for a second goal, but met a Burnley goalkeeper in good form in Tom Heaton, with Enner Valencia notably denied by the shot-stopper.

Burnley were unable to offer much in the way of an attacking threat and slipped to a 1-0 defeat. For Allardyce, West Ham should have made the game safe with further goals, as the shots rained down on the Burnley goal, the Hammers enjoying 29 shots at goal throughout the match.
 


Allardyce was quoted as saying by the BBC: "It should have been a lot easier and it would have been had we converted our chances.

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"We had the chances to win two games and couldn't get that comfort zone.

"One slip can prove costly, but thankfully the lads did the job.

"I think we had a bit of luck on the sending off.

"Mark Noble never practices penalties. He says, "don't worry I'll be fine gaffer". The thing today was about winning and we've done that."

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