Slaven Bilic insists West Ham were 'afraid' after taking the lead against Manchester United

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Sam Long28 November 2016

Slaven Bilic believes West Ham were "afraid" after taking the lead in today's 1-1 draw against Manchester United at Old Trafford.

The Hammers got off to the perfect start against Jose Mourinho's men as Diafra Sakho opened the scoring inside two minutes.

West Ham failed to build on their advantage and were pegged back when Zlatan Ibrahimovic nodded Paul Pogba's cross past Darren Randolph.

Bilic's side hung on to secure a valuable point amidst mounting United pressure in the closing stages of the game but the Croatian manager is adamant anxiety affected the east Londoners' play early on.

"In the first half, when we scored we were a little bit afraid we were winning at Old Trafford and then until they scored we lost too many balls," he told the BBC.

"In the second half, we told the players to go up on them and I was very pleased how we played.

"You can't attack here all the time, they tried to press when they lost the ball and if you get out of that there is a lot of space. We were using that really good in the second half."

However, despite ruing his team's failure to secure all three points, Bilic was proud of the performance West Ham produced in difficult circumstances.

"It might have been more but it is a great point for us, especially as we played good.

"I have to praise the players, who showed character, commitment and quality, especially in the second half," Bilic added.

The Hammers now occupy 15th place in the Premier League table and are one point clear of the relegation zone.

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