Sam Allardyce praised the tactical acumen of his West Ham side as they managed to nullify the Brighton threat and claim a 1-0 win.
Skipper Kevin Nolan seized onto a loose pass before thumping a scorching shot past on-loan goalkeeper Steve Harper after 16 minutes to move his side up to second.
Brighton had a lot of possession but never really managed to find a way past the wall of claret and blue.
But, for Hammers chief Allardyce, his side carried out their game plan to perfection.
He told Sky Sports HD1: "It's a difficult place to play, [they have a] fantastic crowd, enjoying the promotion and the stadium and make life very difficult for teams.
Tactics
"So if you don't get your tactics right, you will end up falling foul to their play at home, so tactically we were excellent tonight.
"I wouldn't say that we were the best on the ball, particularly in the second half.
"But tactically we sussed that out in the early stages. We would press them from the front and hopefully we would press them into an error.
"Jack Collison got the first ball in the first minute of the game but didn't do anything with it and Nolan got the second one."
Having got their noses in front, the Hammers were starved of the ball as Gus Poyet's slick passing side dominated possession.
Sussed
At Championship level, it is rare to see a side with such clearly defined footballing principles.
However, Brighton were unable to breach West Ham, who defended solidly to claim a valuable away win.
"We sussed them out tactically and we capitalised on that by getting the goal, and the first half was much of a muchness from there on," Allardyce added.
"In the second half, we knew they would be throwing more men forward and we knew it was about defending correctly. And then trying to use the ball a lot better than we did.
"But I have to say having just watched the game back with my lads, there isn't a clear-cut chance apart from Manny's (Manuel Almunia) save in the first half that Brighton have created.
"So tactically very, very sound; very, very solid. But in possession, I wish we would have been a lot better."
Source: http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12040_7264578,00.html
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