Powell Takes The Pressure

IN a career that has spanned six clubs, 17 years and five well-deserved England caps, Chris Powell has learned a thing or two about pressure.

As the heat rises on Hammers promotion challenge, the 34-year-old defender's experience is likely to be vital. With expectation levels high, Chris understands that the players are under pressure to perform, but the former Charlton star is relishing the task.

"Pressure comes with the territory of playing for a big Club like West Ham United," he explained. "There is a lot of expectation on us to do well and rightly so, because this is a Club with massive history and one that should be playing Premiership football.

"When we don't perform well we have to learn to take criticism. That is part of the responsibility of playing for a club like this.

"I'm really enjoying the challenge and hopefully I can perform well and in turn help the team achieve the results we need. We've overcome set-backs already this season and we need to show similar resolve again now."

The resolve Chris speaks of was evident at Molineux last Saturday when the Hammers twice fought back against Wolves, before defensive lapses cost them at 4-2 defeat. While admitting the team more than held their own in the Black Country, Chris knows all too well that poor mistakes cost Alan Pardew's men a result.

"We played well for long periods of the game," he explained, "which might seem an odd thing to say when we lost 4-2. Their goalkeeper made crucial saves with the scores at 2-2 and we bounced back twice after going behind.

"But we conceded some very poor goals by our standards and that left us chasing the game. We can't afford to make poor errors, because at the end of the day, those kind of mistakes will cost you promotion.

"Inconsistency has been our problem all season, and we have showed it again in the last couple of weeks with a great display against Norwich followed by a defeat at Wolves.

"The fans see us play so well against Norwich and are then left scratching their heads when we lose the next week. It's frustrating for everyone, but everyone is determined to put it right, and hopefully we can with a result against Derby this weekend.

"The game is on Sunday, so we'll know how a lot of the other teams have done, and they'll be plenty to play for by the time we kick-off."

Chris reserved special praise for Bobby Zamora, who broke a duck of over two months to score twice at Molineux.

"Bobby's been in and out of the team and it's been very difficult for him to put a run of games together," said Chris. "But to his credit he has kept working hard in training, not let it effect him and he got his reward on Saturday.

"He's a good player and a confident young man. It's just a shame that his goals didn't win us the match at Wolves, because he put in a very strong performance and could have had a hat-trick.

"There are some excellent strikers at the Club, who have huge amounts of experience, and it's perhaps been difficult for Bobby to play as much as he'd have liked with those kind of players around.

"But he knows that he's very much a part of the West Ham United squad, and he shows it when he does play because he's always extremely determined and gives nothing short of 100 percent.

"The same goes for all of the players here. Our aim is promotion and we are all going to give everything we have from now until the end of the season to try and achieve that goal for the Club."