STRIKER Marlon Harewood has more cause than most to look forward
to the clash with Nottingham Forest on Boxing Day.
Marlon swapped Forest for West Ham United in November 2003, after
graduating from the youth ranks at the City Ground. The 25-year-old
hitman admits that he can't wait to go up against the club that
groomed his talents, before handing him his League debut in 1998.
But, with 61 Hammers appearances and 24 goals under his belt, there
will be no room for any festive sentiment on Sunday.
"It's always a special moment for me to play against
Forest," confessed Marlon. "I spent a long time at the
Club and have some very good memories of my time there. It'll
be nice to see some of the boys again, and of course Adam Nowland
who is now playing for them.
"But it's a massive game for both clubs and they'll
certainly be no favours going about. After a disappointing result
against Preston we need to get straight back into our stride with a
win, especially in front of the Upton Park crowd.
"Forest are a big club, despite their League position, and
I'm sure both sets of fans are looking forward to it."
The 2-1 reverse at Preston halted a run of encouraging Hammers form
over the last few weeks, and Marlon admits that Alan Pardew's
men need to get back into the winning habit as quickly as possible.
"We've past the half way mark in the season now," he
explained, "and with a bit of ground to make up on the leaders
every point is vital. We're going into a period packed with
games and they'll be plenty of points at stake. We've been
working hard this week to put right the mistakes of Preston and
hopefully that will show in our performance on Boxing Day.
"We are expecting a good crowd against Forest, but we also
know that after last weekend's result there could be some
tension amongst the fans. The manager has told us to expect that
and we need to go out, play the kind of football we know we are
capable of producing, and then hopefully give the West Ham crowd
something to celebrate."
On Christmas Day West Ham United will stand sixth in the table,
nine points off the automatic promotion places. Marlon accepts that
the Hammers need a strong run of form to close the gap on Ipswich
and Wigan, but with senior players returning to fitness he is
convinced Alan Pardew's team have the ability to do it.
"The are a lot of good teams up there fighting it out for
promotion," he admitted, "and we need to string together
a few wins on the trot to get close to the leaders.
"At times this season we've shown our ability as a team,
but there have been occasions when we've let ourselves down. We
need to produce our best form on a more consistent basis, and going
into the business end of the season, now would be a great time to
start putting together a run of results.
"We've definitely missed some of the experienced boys.
Christian Dailly has been out for most of the season, but is
starting to train again now. His presence gives everyone in the
squad a lift.
"Teddy Sheringham and Malky Mackay have also been missing, but
are both back now and I'm sure will have an impact on the team
going into this important stretch of games.
"Playing with Teddy is great. He links up play brilliantly and
always plays the right passes at the right times. He creates a lot
of goalscoring opportunities and as a striker that's what you
feed off."
Despite knowing that the Hammers need to add significantly to their
wins column over the coming months, Marlon stopped short of
offering a target of victories for the remainder of the season,
preferring to stay focused on the job in hand - taking three points
against his former employers on Sunday.
"I don't think we should be looking too far into the
future," he commented. "We're still at the right end
of the table, chasing for promotion.
"Now we just need to win as many games as we can to get us
back in touch with the leaders, and hopefully we'll start with
three points against Forest."
Marlon's Forest Fire
23rd December 2004