Alan's Turnaround Time

ALAN Pardew admitted that last weekend's turnaround of results has given the Hammers a massive injection of confidence going into the final game of the scheduled season at Watford.

It's a game West Ham United must win to secure their place in the Play-offs, but the Hammers boss insists his side will draw belief from their form of late, which has seen them lose just once in their last nine matches.

"It was a massive weekend for us in terms of the results going our way," he said. "It's given us a huge lift and we have to take that lift into the Watford game.

"All the West Ham fans I've bumped into were telling me where they were and how they were feeling when the results came in.

"After the disappointment of Sunderland, it's a huge boost to be going into the final game of the season in sixth place.

"Over the last nine games we've been in terrific form, apart from maybe the final 15 minutes against Brighton and the last period of the Sunderland game.

"We're playing well, and in that time we've lost Teddy Sheringham to injury who has been great for us this season.

"There's no reason for us to go into the Watford game with anything but confidence and now we've got to show that in our performance and make sure we do the job at Vicarage Road."

Pards has plenty of experience in promotion challenges to call upon, from last season's Play-off Final disappointment to the highs of securing Reading's passage to this level.

Add to that he is fighting for sixth place with old club Reading and their manager Steve Coppell, who is a long-time friend, and this is going to be a testing weekend for the Hammers manager.

"I've been in this position before," he said. "Apart from when I first took over at Reading when we finished 10th I've always been involved in promotion, so I know what to expect and know the emotions you go through."

"When I was at Reading we needed a draw against Brentford to clinch automatic promotion, who were managed by Steve at the time, and they needed a win.

"On that occasion Reading went up and Steve went into the Play-offs. It's a similar scenario this time around.

"It's obviously going to be a really tense time and whoever misses out is going to be hugely disappointed. It might be worse for me because it's my old club Reading as well, but missing out is not on our mind.

"There's also the scenario where both West Ham and Reading could go into the Play-offs if Derby lose, and I wouldn't put it past this League if that happened.

"Reading have got a good record at Wigan and anything could happen this weekend. We know that we've got to mirror what Reading do at Wigan, and that means we've got to go into the game looking to win it.

"Watford will be looking to finish their season on a high in front of their own fans and the fact that they are safe now won't have a bearing on the effort they put into the game.

"We've got to be at our best to get the three points, but belief is high and you can be sure that we'll be giving everything we have to make sure we finish the season in the Play-offs."