The West Ham United striker Andy Carroll made a successful return to the starting line-up by scoring the only goal of the game in the 1-0 victory over Swansea during the weekend.

The striker had missed the last two months of action due to an injury, but the manager Sam Allardyce said that delighted to have the striker back in the team. Carroll was signed from Liverpool on a season-long loan deal, but he has featured only a handful of games for West Ham so far. This has been due to several injury problems that have hampered the season so far for the former Newcastle United striker.

The goal against Swansea was just the second he has scored for club in 12 appearances. The manager Allardyce has claimed in recent weeks that Carroll’s importance to the team cannot be measured in goals alone because he has been instrumental in creating several chances. Allardyce has also revealed that the club captain Kevin Nolan is extremely disappointed not to have scored in the match. Allardyce has recalled how Nolan and Carroll formed a great partnership while they were at Newcastle. He says that there is no reason why the partnership cannot be reformed at West Ham. This is the first victory in five matches for West Ham.

“Kevin will always be disappointed when he is in those positions that he hasn’t scored. That’s feeding off Andy. They seem to have this natural instinct for playing together. They didn’t play together too long at Newcastle, but since he came in here at the start of the season Kevin has got quite a few goals off Andy’s play. It is very important for the team. It’s the old saying that, if your front man plays well, it helps everyone,” said the manager, whose team will face Aston Villa in the next match.