Trevor On Trevor

Trevor Sinclair is not in the least surprised - as much of the country seems to be now - that Trevor Brooking showed his passionate side to the footballing world at Maine Road on Sunday.

Not that the man Kevin Keegan nicknamed 'Hadleigh' after a long-forgotten 70s TV character, famous for being suave and unruffled, got quite as carried away as some reports would have you believe.

That he was 'going ballistic', as one journalist tried to claim, seems something of an exaggeration for a man whose most open display of dissent was to ostentatiously, and sarcastically, look at his watch when six minutes of added-on time were announced.

Nonetheless, the commitment was there for all to see, and Trevor Sinclair says: "But he is passionate, isn't he? You don't have a record like he has got if you have no passion for the game and he showed what passion he has got for West Ham.

"I think the fans respect that and saw how much it meant to him."

Trevor says the players had to put thoughts of Glenn, who has shown signs of improvement over the weekend, on a back burner when they were playing, and he adds: "It was difficult circumstances but we are employed to do a job. Obviously, we are gutted about Glenn but we have got to get on with our own jobs and the lads did that very professionally."

With Les Ferdinand going off early in the second half - leading to thankfully unfounded rumours that he had broken his leg - after Fredi Kanoute had already come on as a substitute, another reshuffle was needed and Don Hutchison came on.

"That is the benefit of having everyone fit," says Trevor. "Don was able to come on and make an impression on the game and Fredi came on as well, so it is a healthier situation to be in and I am just glad everyone in the squad is doing everything to give us the wins that we need.

"It wasn't pretty. City are a good team at home and we knew we weren't going to have it all our own way - and they put us under quite a lot of pressure in the first half.

"But, as the game went on, I felt we came into it a bit more, and looked more dangerous, and, being the away team under pressure, I think we deserved it in the end.

"Chelsea is a huge game now. We know how important it is and we are just going to go into it with the same confidence and degree of tempo to make the game ours.

"Other people are being brought into it now so we have just got to keep on winning - and hopefully that will be enough.

"It is tough, but we have been down there all season so we are used to it and we know what we have got to do, so I don't think tension came into it.

"The message to the fans is: Get behind us next week and we will be well up for it."