Craig Dawson reacts to Leeds display against West Ham

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Craig Dawson has told West Ham’s official website that their first goal was so crucial on Monday as he claimed that the Hammers were largely outplayed by Leeds United at the London Stadium.

Dawson got the Irons’ second goal during the first-half. The deadlock had been broken when Jesse Lingard scored the rebound after seeing his penalty saved.

But the opener only came after Leeds had had the ball in the net on two occasions. The first came when Helder Costa was deemed to be offside before finding Tyler Roberts.

And the second came when Patrick Bamford beat Lukasz Fabianski. However, it was immediately ruled out as Raphinha had been unable to keep the ball in play.

Leeds were back on top during the second-half. But they squandered several opportunities. And Dawson made a concession about Marcelo Bielsa’s side’s display.

“We started the game slowly and could have been punished but thankfully we weren’t and fair play to the lads, we came back into the game to go in at half-time 2-0 up,” he told the club’s official website.

“It took some courage to come back, to be honest, because we weren’t sharp enough at the start and it was good to get the two goals before half-time. Fair play to Leeds because they outplayed us but, so to come away with a win is massively important.”

West Ham rode their luck at times. And some of their own supporters expressed their disbelief at the decision to rule Costa offside. They certainly understand how frustrating the VAR decisions can be.

But it is an encouraging sign for David Moyes’s men that they did still manage to secure the three points. They made the most of their chances and benefitted from Leeds being wasteful.

Leeds meanwhile, can still take some positives from the performances – as Dawson suggests.