West Ham vice-captain Mark Noble has said the home victory against Newcastle that marked his club-record 205th Premier League appearance will not live long in the memory -- but getting back to winning ways was what mattered.
The Irons edged a largely scrappy contest at the Boleyn Ground 1-0 thanks to a second-half goal from left-back Aaron Cresswell, his first since arriving from Ipswich.
Newcastle, who had gone into the match on the back of six successive victories, saw their hopes of a fightback all but ended with 15 minutes left when midfielder Moussa Sissoko received two quick, needless bookings.
West Ham, who had not won since beating Manchester City on Oct. 25, are fifth, giving them genuine hope of sustaining their form through the gruelling Christmas schedule.
Midfielder Noble came through the West Ham Academy, and since breaking into the first team in 2004 -- when the Irons were managed by current Newcastle boss Alan Pardew -- has been part of two promotion-winning sides as well as chalking up a double century of top-flight appearances.
The 27-year-old said: "I am 205 not out now, and that is a lot of Premier League appearances.
"I want to improve on it and play as many as I can. To follow in the footsteps of Steve Potts, who is a legend here, is a very nice feeling."
Noble felt West Ham were good value for the victory, which saw them recover from defeat at Everton and bury the frustrations of a goalless home draw with Aston Villa before the international break.
"We have been performing well in the last few weeks, against Villa we hit everything other than the back of the net," he said. "Newcastle was a scrappy game, but in the end we showed our quality.
"We could have finished them off more thoroughly towards the end, but we got the vital goal and that is the main thing -- to get three points is all that matters."
Newcastle boss Pardew accepted that his side lacked the cutting edge in the final third of recent weeks, with only a couple of half-chances created on the break which Ayoze Perez sent into the side netting.
"We would have liked to have played a little bit better than we did, but the most important thing is to now to get the next result," he said.
"When I have had really good teams in the past, we have bounced back quickly."