David Moyes admitted he was going to substitute Michail Antonio just before he scored the winner for West Ham in the 2-1 victory against AZ Alkmaar.
Antonio scored his sixth goal in the Europa Conference League this season as he netted West Ham's second goal at the London Stadium, helping the Hammers come from behind to earn a first leg advantage over their Dutch opponents.
His goal took his tally for the season to 13 in all competitions, with Antonio currently the Hammers' top scorer for the campaign ahead of Jarrod Bowen and Said Benrahma, who netted the penalty to draw West Ham level on the night.
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But Hammers boss Moyes has admitted that he was planning to take the 33-year-old off and introduce Danny Ings, just before Antonio made his impact with the second goal.
"Yes. I was going to change him for Danny Ings," Moyes said, speaking after the game. "I felt we just needed another, different way at the end. Maybe if it had have been five minutes earlier, I might have taken him off."
But Moyes is taking nothing for granted despite the Hammers now having a one-goal advantage ahead of the second leg in Holland next week.
Indeed, the West Ham boss has said that his players still have a big job ahead of them for the second leg, with a place in the final against Fiorentina or Basel on June 7 at stake.
"I hugely believe we’ve got a big resilience here. I think we have it through the club, I think we have it through the team and we’ll need it," he said.
"We’ve needed it in the big games in the Premier League. We’re just off a big win against Manchester United. We’ve won 2-1 in a semi-final of a first leg, so you’d have to say that’s okay. When it’s a cup competition, it doesn’t matter how you do it really and the job is to get it done. We’ve not got it done yet, far from it, we’ve got a big job to do next week."
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