Pards Hails Super Ted

TEDDY Sheringham fired his fourth Premiership goal of the season to sink West Brom and the 39-year-old striker was soon earning the praise of manager Alan Pardew.

Pards confessed that he owed the former England star an apology after neglecting to tell him that he wanted to hand the captaincy back to Play-off Final skipper Nigel Reo-Coker to give the England Under-21 star a lift.

But Sheringham responded in perfect fashion, celebrating his re-call to the starting line-up with the goal that took West Ham United's points tally to 18.

"You need lieutenants out on the pitch and Teddy was that for us," he said. "I wanted to give Nigel the captaincy today to give him a boost. But I forgot to tell Teddy and I owe him an apology for that.

"But it just shows you the character he has when he brushes that aside and comes up with a great performance like that.

"He was excellent again and to turn in such a display at his age is an incredible achievement.

"By the end of the game he was the last person I wanted to take off, because he was organising and inspiring all over the pitch.

"The goal was taken really well. It was a great first touch, letting it slide across his foot and a really sharp finish."

Pards was also impressed with another hard-working performance from Marlon Harewood.

"I felt a bit sorry for Marlon," he confessed. "All the chances he had were hard ones and it was tough on him because he is desperate for a goal.

"But he kept driving on and showed a really good attitude. The whole team showed a lot of character in the second-half. We dug deep and it was a big win."