Tony Ups The Tempo

AFTER losing their last two League games at Upton Park, former Hammers star Tony Gale is only too aware that West Ham United must take three points from their clash with Cardiff City on Sunday.

Tony, who has 359 appearances in the claret and blue to his name, insists the way West Ham start the game will be crucial this weekend.

"It's really important when you play at home to start the game quickly," he explained. "For West Ham right now it's vital. Coming off the back of some indifferent performances at Upton Park the players need to get the crowd going early on.

"We need to move the ball around quickly, get some early tackles in and put Cardiff on the back foot. That way, the fans will get behind the team, confidence of the players will be up and Cardiff will find that combination difficult to cope with.

"Our squad has more than enough quality to pull through this lean spell and start climbing the table again. But we need to take the initiative more, get involved right from the kick-off and show teams that we are in control."

Tony admits that there were plenty of positives to be drawn from the first-half performance against Sheffield United last week, when the Hammers certainly were in control. And he believes the Fifth Round draw against Arsenal will be a massive incentive for the players when they travel to Bramall Lane for the replay a week on Sunday.

"We looked in control at half-time against Sheffield United," he confessed. "We were creating chances, Marlon Harewood had scored an excellent goal, and Sheffield United weren't causing us a lot of problems.

"But we let the tempo drop off in the second-half, they came back at us and scored with one of their few chances.

"It was disappointing not to go through in front of the home fans. Sheffield United will go into the replay as favourites and that might work in our favour.

"The pressure will be on them in front of their own fans and I think West Ham's players will benefit from the freedom, as well as the massive incentive of a trip to Highbury in the Fifth Round.

"The Hammers don't experience the underdog feeling very much in the Championship, and playing under that kind of pressure week in week out can be difficult. You have to learn how to deal with it, and some of the younger players in the squad are still going through that process.

"It's important to focus on playing the opposition in front of you rather than the occasion, and that will be important for the players going into the closing stages of the season when the pressure really will be on."

Tony remains convinced that promotion is still a realistic target for the Hammers, but admits the Cardiff game could make or break their challenge.

"It's a really vital game," he confessed. "Promotion is still a very real target for the Cub and there are still a lot of points up for grabs.

"But we need to start winning and put together an unbeaten run to move us up the table. With a lot of teams around us looking to do the same thing we need to start pushing up the League sooner rather than later, and the Cardiff game will come at a crucial time.

"We can't afford to lose too many more games. Alan Pardew and his players will be aware of that and I'm sure everyone will be fired up at Upton Park on Sunday."