Robert Hall said that his goal at Dagenham on Tuesday was a sweet moment on two fronts.

Firstly it meant he scored on his Football League debut, but secondly, as a West Ham player, it was great to sink their local rivals.

Hall, pictured, converted a well-worked free-kick four minutes before half-time, and said that the goal was a bit of a shock – because it wasn’t going to be him on the end of the pass.

He explained: “It was quite strange because I only worked on it (the free-kick) on Monday and it wasn’t meant to be me that was doing it. But Beano (James Constable) gave me a good shout and we just went for it and luckily it went in.

“A lot of my friends from West Ham were here and us West Ham boys don’t really enjoy playing the Daggers, so it was nice to beat them and get the goal.

“I didn’t start off too well, but got into the game after that and the lads were great – they have really helped me.”

United midfielder Peter Leven said of Hall’s debut: “In the first ten or 15 minutes he was very quiet, but as the game went on he was different class.”