There was Danish delight for Aaron Cresswell as West Ham United made it two wins out of two in the UEFA Conference League last night.
While the Hammers 3-2 victory over Silkeborg IF kept them at the top of Group B, the long-serving defender also became the 36th player to make a triple-century of outings in claret and blue.
“It’s a really proud moment for me to have played so many matches for such an historic football club,” said the 32-year-old after hitting the 300-mark.
“I still speak to Mark Noble every day and, although I won’t ever get near to his 550 games, it’s still a great personal achievement to have made this many appearances for West Ham United.”
Just for good measure, Cresswell – who joined the Hammers from Ipswich Town for £3.75million in July 2014 - also marked his milestone by weighing in with an assist for Craig Dawson, whose 38th-minute goal put David Moyes’ men firmly in the driving seat by the break.
Certainly, the visitors had not had it all their own way in the early stages against the Danes, who took a surprise fifth-minute lead, while the Premier League side were still coming to terms with Superliga outfit’s artificial surface.
“We’re not making excuses but we obviously weren’t familiar with that kind of pitch,” added the three-cap England international who then saw Manuel Lanzini equalise from the penalty spot before Gianluca Scamacca and Dawson gave West Ham the comfort of a two-goal advantage at the interval.
“Their boys are used to it, though, and they know how just fast the ball travels across the top. Silkeborg played some good football and although we went one goal down we did then go on to control the game.
“No matches in European competition are ever easy, though, and we knew it would be a similar evening to when we played Viborg over here in the play-off round but we’d been prepping for this game all week and it’s ended up being a good night’s work.
“We’ve always got to respect teams like Silkeborg if we’re going to make it out of the group,” added Liverpool-born Cresswell, who also saw the defiant Danes reduce the deficit with a quarter-hour remaining .
“The second half may have been a bit flat but we’ve got another three points on the board and that just goes to show that it’s vital to get those wins early doors.
“It’s no secret that we had a fairly small squad last year but we’ve spent money in the summer because we needed more competition for places. We’ve made some fantastic signings, who are all settling in well and it’s great to be out there on the pitch alongside so many technical players.”
Cresswell is now looking forward to next month’s double-header against Belgian outfit Anderlecht, adding: “Beating Anderlecht in those back-to-back ties will be the key to making it into the knock-out stages and, although we may be at the top of the group after our two games we’re certainly not resting on our laurels because there are still four matches left to play."
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