West Ham United manager Sam Allardyce acclaims Andy Carroll for his winning return against Swansea City The club's captain, Kevin Nolan, was also celebrating the return of the England striker, who had spent two months on the sidelines with a knee injury but returned to the starting line-up in devastating fashion here by thumping in a 77th-minute winning goal. That West Ham had won only once without Carroll was no coincidence. Against Swansea, however, West Ham posed a much greater threat, not least because Nolan thrives alongside his former Newcastle team-mate. The West Ham captain seems to know where Carroll will put the ball for him. Little wonder Nolan, their top goal-scorer this season, scored only once while Carroll was sidelined. At Upton Park on Saturday, Nolan looked back to his best and should have scored in the first half when Carroll flicked a superb pass into his path but Swansea keeper Gerhard Tremmel saved. Allardyce said: "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. It's about Andy enjoying his football between now and the end of the season and asking himself, 'What have I achieved here this season?. We just hope that he has an injury-free 14 games. Swansea disappointed, not least Michu, who has not scored in the league since Dec 23, despite having plundered 16 goals in the first half of the campaign. Manager Michael Laudrup said the forward was suffering from a bug, but admitted: "I had to keep him there because he is always a threat. The fact he has scored 16 by this stage is amazing. I knew he could not continue like that and there will be moments when he needs a bit of a rest. When you have success people always want more from you.