Matty's Final Push

MATTY Etherington believes West Ham United's Play-off Final experience will help them as they take on Preston at the Millennium Stadium.

Many of Alan Pardew's squad survive from the team that lost out to Crystal Palace, and Matty believes those painful memories of last year will help strengthen the team this time around.

"The spirit is really high at the moment," he explained. "I think that showed in the semi-final. We were up against it at Portman Road, and having played well in the first leg only to come away with a draw, it was tough for us to pick ourselves up for the second leg.

"But we've got players at West Ham who know how to play in the big occasions. We stayed strong at Ipswich. It's a tough place to go and win, and in the first-half we really had to dig deep because they were giving it everything.

"Then in the second-half we showed the belief to go out and take the game to them. It was a really positive performance from us and we need to give the same in the Final.

"We're not going to shut out the memory of last season, but we'll definitely use it to our advantage because we know that we owe the fans a big performance this time around.

"Last season has made us more determined to succeed this time around. It's going to be very tough though, and over the next week it's going to require us to stay sharp and focus on our goals.

"We're very close to achieving our goal for the season, but there's still a lot of work to do."

Matty is also aware that their opponents in the Final, Preston North End, will ne no pushovers.

"They're a better side than people give them credit for," he said. "Preston are very strong, they always make it difficult for the opposition to play and their results this season have proved that they are a very capable side.

"Up front they've got a couple of dangerous strikers and at the back they are really solid. I don't really look at games in terms of favourites. The teams start equal and, it's all about who plays better on the day.

"But we've shown that we can play on the big stage this season and the Final is going to be a massive occasion."