MATTY Etherington has some fond memories of this fixture last
season.
It was the Play-off semi-final at Upton Park against Ipswich last
season when the 24-year-old winger made himself a hero among
Hammers fans with a wonder goal to top a match-winning performance.
But while he would welcome a repeat performance of West Ham
United's display that day, Matty cautions that Saturday's
match will be a very different affair.
"Obviously I've got really good memories of the game from
last season," he said. "I don't think there's
anyone connected with West Ham who doesn't. It was a fantastic
match to be involved in, the atmosphere was incredible and
hopefully we'll be saying something similar about
Saturday's match afterwards.
"But we're not looking too much at that game because this
is a totally different occasion. Again the atmosphere is going to
be really crucial and we're all looking forward to playing in
front of a packed Upton Park.
"As a player, you want to perform on the biggest stage
possible and I think the stadium is going to be fantastic on
Saturday. It'll be a different feeling from last season because
this is an afternoon game and of course it isn't crucial in
terms of we'll have another leg on Wednesday.
"But it's still really important that we have a good start
to the game and we use the crowd and the stadium to our
advantage."
Matty is also hoping that the team can take advantage of any mental
setbacks Ipswich might be feeling after coming so close to
automatic promotion, only to miss out on the final day of the
season.
"That's obviously got to be a blow and we're hoping we
can take advantage of that," he said. "If it is going to
affect them I think it will be in the early stages of the game, and
that along with the crowd behind us, we can hopefully have an
impact on them early on and get them on the back foot.
"Having said that, there is a lot of football to play over two
legs and we can't rely on the fact that Ipswich might play
badly. We've got to play well and if we can perform to the top
of our game over the two legs then we'll have a good chance of
coming out on top.
"This is a massive game over two legs and until we're
through it no one is even considering possibilities for the
Final."
Matty's Repeat Performance
12th May 2005