Slaven Bilic Admits Beating Former Club West Ham in FA Cup Was Sweeter Than a Normal Victory

​Slaven Bilic thoroughly enjoyed his return to West Ham, claiming the first scalp of the FA Cup fourth round as his West Brom side knocked out their Premier League counterparts on Saturday.

Despite a late red card, the Baggies left London laughing as Conor Townsend's ninth-minute strike separated the two sides at the final whistle.

Baggies boss Bilic admitted beating his former club, where he spent a little over two years in the hot seat, was satisfying.

As quoted by ​BBC Sport, the Croat said: "Every time you come back to a place you have so many good emotions about, of course you want to do well. So it is great for us, for me personally and for Dicksy [Julian Dicks - his assistant].

"Did it feel a bit sweeter to win here? Yes, a bit to be fair, but it is not that I am sour or that I had a point to prove here. I just wanted to win," he added. "We big-time deserved it. It was a great performance by us - a complete one."

The 51-year-old is enjoying a stellar debut season with ​West Brom, guiding them to the summit of the ​Championship, and Saturday's result perhaps proves they're ready to return to the Premier League.

Meanwhile, fears of ​West Ham swapping places with the Midlands club are growing readily as David Moyes has been unable to make a huge impact since himself returning to the London Stadium.

The Hammers sit above the relegation zone on goal difference and their lacklustre efforts against West Brom - despite playing a near full-strength side - have piled pressure on the Scottish manager.

"We did not start the game well. We gave up opportunities in the early part of the game and they were better than us in the opening period and they got their goal in that time," confessed Moyes.

"We were a bit fortunate we did not concede another goal but we got through to half-time and I made a decision to make a few changes," he added. "I had seen too many poor passes, too many balls being kicked off the pitch and not enough good play. We had to attempt to get through or at least get a draw but we were not quite able to get there."

Source : 90min