Sam Allardyce was full of praise for captain Kevin Nolan after his goal earned West Ham all three points at the Keepmoat Stadium.
Allardyce made Nolan his first signing upon being appointed as successor to Avram Grant earlier in the summer and his foresight paid off when the West Ham captain scored the game's only goal after just five minutes."Kevin Nolan could have had two or three goals today," Allardyce said post-match. "He's got a good mentality and he knows what it's all about. He knows what it takes to get out of this division - quality with team-work.
"He builds team spirit in the dressing room and demands things from players and that helps me with my job. If your captain builds a dressing room, it makes the manager's job a lot easier."
Allardyce also admitted that he was slightly concerned with the failure to convert chances to goals - but indicated that this was his only criticism of his team.
"We missed too many chances again to just make it more comfortable for us but that aside everything else was very good today," he said. "It was a lot like last Sunday. Lots of good play, lots of chances but this time we got the result.
We got the all important clean-sheet and the goal early on. It was a very professional performance. It was one we can build on and it will give the lads a lot of confidence.
"We have talked all summer about the poor away form at West Ham and we've started in a very positive manner away. Hopefully we can continue to do that because we have got Watford away on Tuesday."
Allardyce also had a special word for the travelling support that saw their team win away for the first time since the 3-1 victory at Blackpool back in February. "It was a terrific result for the fans," he added. "There were more than 3,000 behind the goal and they saw a very professional performance. They were superb."
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