Danny Ings’ quick-fire double sparks West Ham’s rout of Nottingham Forest

On afternoons like these, seasons turn. Fifteen frantic second-half minutes and suddenly a weight lifts, the mood of a whole club changes.

Danny Ings at the three-minute double. Dreamland. David Moyes was still punching the air joyously when his captain, Declan Rice, added a sumptuous third.

Just like that a must-win game was won. West Ham move outside the Premier League’s bottom three – and two points behind Nottingham Forest in 13th. Thirty years since Bobby Moore’s passing was celebrated with a clean sheet.

“How long have I been waiting for that?” Moyes said after a huge sigh. “Look, I’m not coming in here with a bottle of champagne, thinking everything is hunky dory. But I’m thrilled that I’ve won 4-0 today. And I’m going to enjoy a glass of wine tonight and why not: I’ve had enough bad nights.”

Moyes is right to take the credit. The criticism he faced for his conservative setup against Tottenham last Sunday was stinging. Some of it was internal, with Rice suggesting that what was, essentially, an octet of blockers, left the forward-thinkers isolated.

But six days later a rebrand, and everything Moyes touched worked. Substitutions included: Michail Antonio added a headed late fourth with his first touch. The provider was Pablo Fornals who had arrived with him. Mutiny averted then, at least for now. “The important thing is that I’ve got incredible backing,” Moyes said. “There’s been a lot of [outside] noise but behind the scenes there has been no noise.”

The win brought up Moyes’s 250th in the division, putting him in the illustrious company of Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsène Wenger. “Not bad,” he noted, grinning. “They’re all important. If you don’t win your first, you might not get your second. If you don’t win your