David Moyes has praised Manuel Lanzini after the Argentine changed the game when he came on as a second-half substitute during the 1-0 win over Watford.
Lanzini was a doubt for the match after Moyes revealed he was suffering from an achilles' injury and the No.10 was only deemed fit enough to take a place on the bench.
The Argentina international had started the previous five Premier League matches for the Hammers but injury saw him reduced to a superb 30-minute appearance off the bench.
It was Lanzini's pass between the Watford midfield that fed Bowen for the only goal of the game, as Moyes was keen to point out after the match.
"We got better as the game went on and Lanzini made a difference when he came on," the Scot told WHUTV. "Even for the goal, it was one of the first passes to pass through the lines, and Jarrod turned and gave himself a chance in a shooting position.
"We very rarely got any good build-up, and we had worked on it, and we had tried. We knew what we were going to face so it wasn’t as though we hadn’t done anything towards it, we tried to do it."
Moyes was pleased with the result even if the display was not up to the standards he desires from his players.
"The performance was not great and it wasn't great on Saturday either and fortunately enough we got two wins from it," Moyes said. "We will need to improve if we are going to stay where we are and do what we are doing, we are going to have to play much better that is for sure."
The manager added: "We’ve won the last two games and not in great fashion. But nobody really remembers a lot about what is done, and we’ve got the wins and we’ve got the points.
"We’ve got 40 points, which is always a total you felt you had to get to make sure you were a Premier League team. We don’t look at it that way anymore, but I’ve got to say that it’s still a good start. Now we want to try and get the points total that will see us stay in and around the top teams.
"I said at the start of the season that, last season, we were two points short of the Champions League, and I think the target now in my head is how quick can we get to 50 points? Then it’s 60 points, and so on.
"There’s a bit of climbing Mount Everest in there. We’re only at Base Camp One at the minute and now we’ve got the hard bit to go."
