A vital victory over high-flying Arsenal and a fantastic
first clean sheet of the season saw West Ham claw themselves out of
the bottom three. And that left Alan Pardew both ecstatic and
apologetic after Marlon Harewood's late, late strike silenced
the Gunners at Upton Park.
"To a man, this team showed the spirit that is absolutely essential for us to win games but if I was over-zealous in my celebrations - which I'm sure I was - then I say sorry to both Arsene Wenger and Arsenal Football Club," revealed the Hammers' boss, who was involved in a unsavoury clash with his French counterpart as the East End rejoiced back-to-back victories.
"There were only a few minutes left and it's been a tough old season for us. I said to him: 'I'm only celebrating the goal, please don't begrudge me that,' but, quite rightly so, he was annoyed and he said a few things to me…in English!
"I just hope that we can iron that out because I've got huge respect for him and that hasn't changed - he's a great manager. There were two or three moments - including Alexander Hleb's penalty claim - before we scored and I think that raised the levels for him.
"In all honesty, though, I never said anything to Arsene, I just celebrated Marlon's goal and now I want to put it all behind us and concentrate on West Ham United because it's been a great day for this football club.
"We've beaten Arsenal and gone up to 15th-place in the Premiership on an afternoon when we could have lost 2-0 and gone down to the bottom of the league.
"Sometimes your tactics and contingencies can go completely astray but everything worked for us today. We had a game-plan where we loaded the bench with strikers in the hope that we could get ourselves into a position to try and win the match," continued Pards, who crucially introduced Teddy Sheringham and match-winner Harewood with just under half-an-hour remaining.
"Bobby Zamora deserves a lot of praise, too, because he had worked so hard for the side to get us into a position where Teddy and Marlon could come on and grab the headlines for us.
"The team played well and I felt that we never let Arsenal settle or get into any rhythm. Danny Gabbidon was awesome and he played a big part in helping us to get our first clean sheet of the season, while Nigel Reo-Coker stuck to his pre-match brief not to let Cesc Fabregas play and that was essential to our victory.
"With all the Champions League money really kicking in, the extra £15million per season that the big sides receive is creating a huge gap now and it's a massive achievement for the likes of us to beat them because not many teams below, say, eighth place win games against the top sides.
"Our season, remember, is chiefly against the other teams in the Premier League and, although we've beaten Blackburn Rovers and Charlton Athletic, we've now got to start beating those sides around us.
"Today, we've coped really well with Thierry Henry and a good Arsenal team and having put in a lot of hard work after all our defeats, the game has shown that it has a great habit of rewarding you when you least expect it."
"To a man, this team showed the spirit that is absolutely essential for us to win games but if I was over-zealous in my celebrations - which I'm sure I was - then I say sorry to both Arsene Wenger and Arsenal Football Club," revealed the Hammers' boss, who was involved in a unsavoury clash with his French counterpart as the East End rejoiced back-to-back victories.
"There were only a few minutes left and it's been a tough old season for us. I said to him: 'I'm only celebrating the goal, please don't begrudge me that,' but, quite rightly so, he was annoyed and he said a few things to me…in English!
"I just hope that we can iron that out because I've got huge respect for him and that hasn't changed - he's a great manager. There were two or three moments - including Alexander Hleb's penalty claim - before we scored and I think that raised the levels for him.
"In all honesty, though, I never said anything to Arsene, I just celebrated Marlon's goal and now I want to put it all behind us and concentrate on West Ham United because it's been a great day for this football club.
"We've beaten Arsenal and gone up to 15th-place in the Premiership on an afternoon when we could have lost 2-0 and gone down to the bottom of the league.
"Sometimes your tactics and contingencies can go completely astray but everything worked for us today. We had a game-plan where we loaded the bench with strikers in the hope that we could get ourselves into a position to try and win the match," continued Pards, who crucially introduced Teddy Sheringham and match-winner Harewood with just under half-an-hour remaining.
"Bobby Zamora deserves a lot of praise, too, because he had worked so hard for the side to get us into a position where Teddy and Marlon could come on and grab the headlines for us.
"The team played well and I felt that we never let Arsenal settle or get into any rhythm. Danny Gabbidon was awesome and he played a big part in helping us to get our first clean sheet of the season, while Nigel Reo-Coker stuck to his pre-match brief not to let Cesc Fabregas play and that was essential to our victory.
"With all the Champions League money really kicking in, the extra £15million per season that the big sides receive is creating a huge gap now and it's a massive achievement for the likes of us to beat them because not many teams below, say, eighth place win games against the top sides.
"Our season, remember, is chiefly against the other teams in the Premier League and, although we've beaten Blackburn Rovers and Charlton Athletic, we've now got to start beating those sides around us.
"Today, we've coped really well with Thierry Henry and a good Arsenal team and having put in a lot of hard work after all our defeats, the game has shown that it has a great habit of rewarding you when you least expect it."