WHILE Tottenham's Martin Jol disconsolately conceded that West
Ham United had earned their last-gasp point, his Upton Park
counterpart Alan Pardew could not hide his delight at Anton
Ferdinand's late, late leveller.
"I felt the goal was everything we deserved today," enthused Pards following Hammers 1-1 draw at White Hart Lane. "It was one for the entire squad - the players, the substitutes and the staff - plus the fans.
"We knew how much this game meant to the supporters and we sent them home happy.
"The team was bushy tailed and we played with energy and any Tottenham fan who is a good judge surely wouldn't begrudge us our point today.
"No, it wasn't a classic match but it was still a good London derby," continued the Hammers boss after seeing Ferdinand's stoppage-time goal wipe out Mido's looping, 16th-minute header
"Mido made his chance look easy with a clever finish, but if he had decided to take the ball down instead, then Shaka Hislop would've been in a good position.
"In fact, the header was made to look far simpler than it really was and that meant that Mido might have embarrassed our back four and goalkeeper more, perhaps, than another striker would've done.
"When we came in at the break, I felt that we hadn't played enough, but in the second-half we got ourselves on the ball, played a bit and got some good crosses into the danger area.
"We still could've been a bit better in the final third, though" observed Pards who was left looking towards the North London skies after England 'keeper Paul Robinson acrobatically pawed away Teddy Sheringham's rising, close range shot midway through the second period.
"Teddy's volley was controlled - he certainly didn't slash at the ball - and I couldn't believe that their 'keeper had saved it.
"We were chasing the game and although I'm not normally a negative thinker, I just felt that it wasn't going to happen for us, today."
But, thankfully, the elusive breakthrough finally came with just seconds of added time remaining.
Certainly it was do or die for the visitors as Hislop charged upfield to join his team-mates in the Tottenham box.
And when Paul Konchesky floated in the perfect inswinging corner, Ferdinand got there ahead of this 'keeper to head home Hammers' crucial equaliser.
"Shaka certainly unsettled them and he even reckons that he was about to get onto the ball!" observed Pards. "All I know is that if you're a defender and you see a six-foot, four-inch, 18-stone guy coming into the box, you'll have to keep one eye on him and that's why I sent him forward.
"By then, I was desperate because we definitely deserved something.
"Anyway, after the week he's had helping Trinidad and Tobago qualify for the World Cup Finals, I thought he'd go and hit the ball into the top corner!
"Anton's had two tough games for England Under-21s against France, too, but he's now come here and scored a goal.
"He's a fantastic athlete and he's also got good leadership qualities that have started to come to the fore."
While Ferdinand proved the match-saver, though, it was another product of the Hammers Youth Academy who really caught the eye of Pards and the rest of the 36,154 crowd at White Hart Lane.
"In the second-half Mark Noble started to show his potential," smiled the Hammers boss conscious not to over-hype the 18-year-old midfielder following his first-ever Premiership start.
"For me, the battle he had with Edgar Davids was one of the highlights of the game. He went out there and said: 'My name's Mark Noble and I'm here to play, too!' Mark rattled Davids but it's very difficult for me to speak about him because I'm such an admirer of the lad, not just as a footballer but also as a young person, too.
"Mark really is a manager's dream. For a start, you just can't get him off the training ground. He's a fantastic lad and we've always looked at him in a special way
"With Nigel Reo-Coker injured, the easy option would have been for me to have played Carl Fletcher or Christian Dailly today, but I decided to replace an attacking midfielder like-for-like and now Mark's time has come because of Nigel's injury. It's up to him to hold down his place from here.
"Yes, he over-played a bit at the start and got caught out a couple of times, but he's a clever, clever player and by the time the hour-mark arrived he had settled in and I didn't have any worries about him whatsoever."