First team coach Peter Grant is backing the players to put
Saturday's painful defeat against Portsmouth behind them and
produce a fighting display against Manchester City this
evening.
Just 48 hours after the 4-2 loss against Harry Redknapp's team, Hammers will do battle at the City of Manchester stadium for a place in the FA Cup semi-finals and, while it may not have been ideal preparation for such a momentous encounter, Grant insists that Alan Pardew's men can only look forward to the task ahead now.
"It obviously hasn't been the way we would like to approach an FA Cup quarter-final but there is nothing we can do about how the fixtures are scheduled," he says.
"The important thing is that we put Saturday behind us and focus entirely on tonight's match against Manchester City.
"We know that the performance against Portsmouth wasn't acceptable and, as the manager said, whatever happens tonight won't take away from the fact that we were very disappointed and angry about Saturday's result.
"But after a poor result at Bolton last week, we responded in the right way in the cup replay on Wednesday, and now we've got to do it again.
"The players are hurting, but they have already shown this season that they know how to fight back after adversity, and they will give it everything against Manchester City tonight."
Just 48 hours after the 4-2 loss against Harry Redknapp's team, Hammers will do battle at the City of Manchester stadium for a place in the FA Cup semi-finals and, while it may not have been ideal preparation for such a momentous encounter, Grant insists that Alan Pardew's men can only look forward to the task ahead now.
"It obviously hasn't been the way we would like to approach an FA Cup quarter-final but there is nothing we can do about how the fixtures are scheduled," he says.
"The important thing is that we put Saturday behind us and focus entirely on tonight's match against Manchester City.
"We know that the performance against Portsmouth wasn't acceptable and, as the manager said, whatever happens tonight won't take away from the fact that we were very disappointed and angry about Saturday's result.
"But after a poor result at Bolton last week, we responded in the right way in the cup replay on Wednesday, and now we've got to do it again.
"The players are hurting, but they have already shown this season that they know how to fight back after adversity, and they will give it everything against Manchester City tonight."