Mikey Antonio waled away with the man of the match award after a brilliant performance against the GeorDies.
But he wasn’t happy at missing a sitter and a penalty as the Irons came from behind twice to gain terrific win at St James’ Park.
It was ample revenge for the double Steve Bruce’s outfit had scored over as last season and showed the resilience and spirit which David Moyes has built into this exciting squad.
He quickly admitted that as he offered his post match interview to www.whufc.com declaring: “I was a little bit disappointed that I had a couple of opportunities that I didn’t take, but obviously I got the goal, and in the first game of the season too so it’s a nice way to start. Hopefully I can keep going and keep scoring more goals.
“We showed last season that we’ve got resilience – that’s something that the Gaffer has given us, that we always believe in ourselves to come back and score goals.
“We’re never beaten, we always fight back and always keep going.
“On the goal it’s down to me being a No9 – hold-up play, laying it off and then spinning to get your opportunity. I’m going to have to say sorry to Dec, because obviously when he missed his pen last time I bantered him and said maybe I’m on pens next. It might be Dec next now!”
Antonio was also thrilled to give the 3,000 travelling Hammers fans a winning start to following the team on the road again and says he has missed feeling their backing in person.
“It’s unbelievable to have them back,” he added. “Even the atmosphere when we walked out onto the pitch, when the home fans were booing us, it’s not been the same without the fans.
“I really enjoyed it, it felt weird at first having the fans back and not hearing our teammates when they say ‘man on’ and stuff, but this is what football is and that’s why we love the game.”
The victory left the Hammers in fourth place at the end of the first round of fixtures – sitting behind Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool as they continued their exciting exploits of last season – so far without adding a player to the squad other than a stopper.
