Pards Looks For Mental Edge

ALAN Pardew insists his Hammers side will take a psychological advanatge into the first-leg of the Play-off semi-final against last season's adversaries Ipswich Town.

After seeing his side secure sixth place with a 2-1 win over Watford, Pards began the build up to Saturday's first-leg at Upton Park by insisting that the Tractor Boys will find it tough to recover from the disappointment of missing out on automatic promotion.

"For both clubs these are two massive games coming up," he admitted. "I've experienced the disappointment of finishing third and just missing out on automatic promotion. It'll be a psychological blow for them going into Saturday's game and they'll have to pick themselves up.

"They've got a great manager in Joe Royle and some excellent players, but we'll start on an even keel and it's a huge boost to have pretty much a full squad going into the game, with Teddy Sheringham being the only player who is unlikely to be available for either of the two legs."

Hammers had to fight hard for their three points against Watford at Vicarage Road, but Pards was delighted with the application of his players in such a crucial game.

"We approached the game in the correct manner and getting the goal just before half-time was really important," he said. "On the bench we were being kept informed about what was going on at Wigan and in a sense that result made the game more comfortable for us than perhaps it could have been.

"I wanted the players to just stay focused on the game in hand, but I think they could sense from our crowd what was going on.

"It was difficult for them though. Watford are a young team with plenty of exuberance and we had to match that. The pitch was difficult as well, and every time you tried to get it down and play the ball was bobbling around.

"Under the circumstances, I think the players did really well at Watford.

"I thought Anton Ferdinand had a brilliant game. He dealt with one of the division's best strikers in Heidar Helguson very well and took his goal excellently. I was less impressed with his 40-yard sprint to celebrate the goal, but everyone was delighted for him."

Pards also praised West Ham United's travelling support, who were again magnificent at Vicarage Road and admitted that fan power will play a major part in Saturday's semi-final first leg.

"Our fans were terrific again at Watford and they'll have a huge part to play on Saturday," he admitted. "It's an early afternooon kick-off, but hopefully they'll take it easy on Friday night, get their early and really build the atmosphere up for us.

"They've got the influence to swing the game in our favour and their support is going to be crucial over the two legs."