Steve came through his first 90 minutes of the season in the friendly reserve game at Charlton earlier in the week and Alan says:
"Lomy started in centre midfield and came through it with flying colours.
"I am really pleased and everyone is happy he is on the pitch, barking orders left right and centre - which is what he is about.
"His leadership qualities are sorely missed but I don't think he is quite ready yet.
"He will be the first to admit that - he is very self-conscious - but I am sure he will be banging on my door soon and I look forward to it."
Neil Mellor also played in that game and Alan adds:
"Neil looks like he is fine and he comes into the reckoning for Saturday's game."
Alan reckons that his players showed on Saturday that they have the stomach for a scrap when the chips are down after they fought back from a 2-0 deficit to take the points, and he hopes half time when that was the score could be a significant turning point.
He says:
"I think it was not so much what was said but a call to arms; we answered a few question marks because if I was a West Ham fan on the sidelines at half time I'd have wondered if we had the fight for it.
"At least we showed that but we have a lot of work to do going from a relegation to try and get to a promotion.
"There is a big difference; we have got good individuals but we have got to have a team and a spirit in the team.
"We have started to build that spirit and it showed itself against Sunderland."