Keen Hails Win Of The Season!

HAVING seen his Reserve team turn in a magnificent attacking performance to defeat Charlton Athletic 6-1, Kevin Keen described his side's display as one of the best of the season so far.

Two goals a-piece from Bobby Zamora and David Bellion, plus strikes from Jeremie Aliadiere and David Cowley saw Hammers home to a comfortable three points at Dagenham & Redbridge.

Kevin said: "Certainly in terms of both result and performance that was one of our best displays of the season.

"We've had other very strong performances, like the one when we dug in really well at Coventry to win with a young side.

"Against Charlton we had some senior players out there who showed excellent attitude, as well as class out on the pitch. When you have senior players in the team who show that kind of attitude towards a match then it really rubs off on the young players in the team.

"It's also really good for some of the more regular Reserve team players, like Tony Stokes and Jemel Henry to have those senior players in the team.

"We were excellent all over the pitch, but some of our attacking play in particular was of a very high level.

"It was a very dominant performance. We were disappointed to let in the goal just after we had scored out first and at half-time we talked about defending properly and making it a real complete performance."

Tony Stokes was handed the captain's armband in the absence of Chris Cohen, who has gone on a month's loan to Yeovil Town to gain first-team experience, and Kevin was again impressed by the performance of the midfielder.

"Tony has been one of the regulars at Reserve team level this season and he's done really well," added Kevin. "Chris Cohen, who was captaining the side has gone out on loan and it will be good to get some first-team experience, so Tony deserved to be given the armband.

"I don't want to build him up too much, and there is still lots of work for him to do. But Tony had another really good game.

"Bobby Zamora's attitude was excellent and an example to all the young players in the side. He took his two goals very well, but contributed so much more, not only on the pitch but also in the dressing-room, where his approach to the game was brilliant.

"It was a really good result for us and nice to build on the win over Norwich last time out. At Reserve level it's difficult to talk about going on good runs, because the team changes a lot due to what players are available and it's more important that you get the best performance on the night from the team that goes out.

"Obviously, that's two straight wins since losing against Spurs and hopefully we can keep it going when we visit Watford next Monday."