Europa Conference League: Moyes backs resilient West Ham to reach final

Europa Conference League: AZ Alkmaar’s Tijani Reijnders put the Dutch side in the lead in the first half but goals from Said Benrahma and Michail Antonio in the second half completed a comeback victory for West Ham at home.

West Ham United’s Scottish manager David Moyes reacts on the touchline during the UEFA Europa Conference League semifinal first-leg football match between West Ham United and AZ Alkmaar. | Photo Credit: AFP

West Ham United manager David Moyes said his team has the resilience needed to reach the Europa Conference League final after coming from behind to beat AZ Alkmaar in the first leg of the semifinal.

AZ Alkmaar’s Tijani Reijnders put the Dutch side in the lead in the first half but goals from Said Benrahma and Michail Antonio in the second half completed a comeback victory for West Ham at home on Thursday.

The Premier League side, who are aiming to reach a first European final since 1976, will head to the Netherlands for the second leg next Thursday.

“I hugely believe we’ve got a big resilience here,” Moyes told reporters. “I think we have it through the club, I think we have it through the team and we’ll need it.

“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.”

Moyes said that despite the first-leg win the tie is evenly balanced.

“We’ve got a slight narrow lead but nothing more than that,” Moyes added.

West Ham, 15th in the Premier League, play at Brentford on Sunday.