West Ham made a double substitution shortly after with Carlos Tevez and Carlton Cole coming on up front, but they caused the City defence few problems as they stood firm to secure our 2nd win in 6 league games.
It also brought an end to a run of 3 defeats and gave us a quick morale boost after the midweek Carling Cup exit to Chesterfield.
"I am pleased for the players, because they have got the result for themselves under a little bit of pressure," said Pearce.
"I'm also pleased for the fans, I think they really came to the party today. The one thing about Manchester City fans is that if you give them a bit of adversity they step up to the plate. One or two of them would not have been happy about the results of late, like I'm not, and rightly so. They got right behind the team today.
"West Ham didn't have an effort on our goal, and you have to give credit to the whole team for that. You've got to defend from the front, if you get through the midfield you will open teams up eventually. The whole team defended reasonably well and showed good spirit.
"But work starts again on Monday," added the City boss, who gave a first start to youngster Ishmael Miller at left midfield. "We have to have a critical eye on the next game and make sure we get more good results than bad. Today's game will give Corradi and Samaras a world of confidence, and Ishmael Miller will go home thinking he really can play in the Premiership.
“We were a bit tentative to start with, I would have liked us to grasp the nettle a bit more in the first half and really go after them. We spoke to the centre halves at half-time to get the defensive line up a bit more, to back our ability and our pace. Once we did that we were more comfortable."
Pearce was especially pleased with Samaras opening his league account for the season.
"The goals were top quality," he said. "It's difficult to score in the Premiership but they were two good finishes. He needs to show a bit more aggression in his play, we had told him that before the game and he delivered today."