Cheltenham 0 West Ham 2: Slaven Bilic breathes sigh of relief as Londoners progress into League Cup third round

Andre Ayew - Cheltenham Town 0 West Ham United 2: Slaven Bilic breathes sigh of relief as Londoners progress into League Cup third round
Andre Ayew scored West Ham's second goal of the game on Wednesday night Credit: Getty Images

West Ham manager Slaven Bilic knew nothing but a win would do to quell questions over his future in their Carabao Cup visit to Cheltenham Town.

Goals from Diafra Sakho and Andre Ayew successfully kickstarted their season at Waddington Road to send them into the third round draw.

And Bilic believes his men will have received a huge lift as they prepare to break their Premier League duck at Newcastle United, who are still winless this season after defeat at home to Championship side Nottingham Forest.

“If you lose, it affects your confidence, the atmosphere on the training ground, the atmosphere in the dressing room and the atmosphere in the press room,” said Bilic.

“The questions are different when you lose so it’s always nice to win, we were dying for this kind of competition and this kind of victory.

“It’s very important we got the first win of the season and also the way we played. We played the majority of the game by passing the ball well and playing good football.”

The Hammers put their opening defeats to Manchester United and Southampton to the back of their minds when Sakho latched onto Mark Noble’s pass to score on his first appearance in 10 months.

Sakho turned provider moments later to find Ayew in space, and he held his nerve to beat Flatt down to his right again. 

Dan Holman had a golden chance to get Cheltenham back in the game, but he failed to connect with Harry Pell’s driven cross with the goal gaping in-front of him and it finished 2-0.

Match details

Cheltenham Town (4-4-2): Flatt; Grimes, Atanga, Boyle; Cranston; Forster, Pell, Storer (c), Winchester (Dawson 45); Wright (Graham 64), Eisa (Holman 71).
West Ham United (4-3-3): Adrian; Byram, Collins, Ogbonna, Masuaku; Rice, Noble (c) (Kouyate 72), Obiang; Fernandes (Quina 88), Ayew, Sahko (Hernandez 64).
Attendance: 6,529.

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