Wolves moved to within touching distance of Premier League safety with a 1-0 win over West Ham on Wednesday night
Comments
Sport
Vitor Pereira celebrates
(Image: PA Wire/PA Images)
Wolves manager Vitor Pereira expressed his pride after his team secured a 1-0 win against West Ham, moving 12 points clear of the Premier League's relegation zone.
Jorgen Strand Larsen's deflected goal in the 21st minute proved to be the decisive moment in the match against Graham Potter's Hammers.
Article continues below
Since taking the reins in December, Pereira has transformed the club's fortunes, guiding them from five points adrift of safety to the cusp of securing their top-flight status. The Portuguese manager couldn't contain his joy, saying: "I am emotional and very proud of my team today.
"It showed the true spirit of this team, the supporters, and the connection between them and us. I'm a simple guy. I like to be with them (the fans), to feel that I'm part of the family and feel the happiness of the supporters.
"In this moment when I look at my team, I look at a team that at times to celebrate they are together and times to suffer they are together."
Wolves' next challenge comes on Saturday at Portman Road against third-bottom Ipswich. Despite their significant buffer on the relegation zone, Pereira remains cautious, emphasizing the importance of the next match and the need to maintain the right mentality.
He added: "The most important is next game and we will try to compete and win. I feel we need to go to the next game with the right mentality. We cannot, even for one game, I don't want to stop and relax because I want more points because we can play better."
Evan Ferguson narrowly missed the opportunity to put West Ham ahead on his debut as a starter, only for Larsen to score via a deflection off Max Kilman.
Graham Potter's second-half tactical changes that almost saw West Ham level the score.
Firstly, Niclas Fullkrug struck the crossbar, and then Emerson failed to capitalise on the rebound, but it was Tomas Soucek who had the golden chance, failing to convert a one-on-one with Jose Sa due to Toti’s error.
On this Pereira commented: "Toti tried to kill me. In the end, this is why this game is fantastic game because the emotions are (up and down)."
Reflecting on the match, West Ham manager Potter said: "Game of two halves. First half we weren't happy with the performance and Wolves were good. We have a good chance to score which we don't take."
"We had to adjust at half-time and were a lot better. We had a big chance with Tomas but nevertheless we weren't happy with our first half."
"As a team we have to perform in the first half because if we don't it's hard to get points. The most important thing is the team plays well and get points, we haven't done that tonight."