The Hammers stuck to their game-plan in being well-organised and solid in defence and fully deserved their point.
“I think tactically we were very good,” Sam told West Ham TV.
“You have to earn the right to play in this league, no matter who you are, and I think that the first thing was to stop Manchester City doing what they wanted to do and, from there, use our possession correctly.
“We didn’t use our possession quite as well in the second half as we did in the first but we caused them real problems - Yossi’s volley hit the bar, Andy’s shot just went wide of the post and we scored a goal that wasn’t a goal that we’ll all unfortunately be talking about for a day or two. The assistant should have kept his flag down but instead he put it up.
“We then produced some last-ditch defending when it was needed in the second half, either by the goalie or the back four. We had the odd break-out and Andy’s overhead kick looked goalbound until it hit one of their defenders on the back. Andy also had a side-footer from Matt Jarvis’s cross that he’ll be disappointed with.
“They might have been against the run of play, but that’s what you do because Man City threw more and more men forward because they wanted to win and they left more and more gaps that we exploited but unfortunately we couldn’t turn them into a goal.
“It is very satisfying, particularly after last week. We’ve played ten games and got fifteen points and we’re right in the top half of the Premier League. There are about five or six of us who have got fifteen points. There’s a massive credit to the players for that performance that they gave against the champions of the Barclays Premier League.”