Alan Pardew left the Riverside Stadium on Saturday
evening a frustrated man after losing out 1-0 to a Middlesbrough
team who netted the winner with their only shot on target of the
entire match.
The Hammers boss had watched his side take the game to more
defence-minded opponents, only for substitute Massimo Maccarone to
come off the bench and score a 74th minute winner for the hosts,
leaving Pards and the army of travelling Hammers fans more than a
little aggrieved at the outcome.
"I felt the one real break in the game fell for Middlesbrough
and, unfortunately for us, they took it," said Pards. "It
was a really tight game, they were a bit nervous and their set-up
of 4-5-1 to stop us playing meant the match was bitty and there
wasn't a lot of fluency to it.
"I felt we were coping well with them and looked more
threatening with the two strikers we had on the pitch. But we never
got the break or produced that moment of quality that perhaps the
game needed, from our point of view anyway.
"In the last 10 minutes or so, we looked a little like we were
rushing things and perhaps if we were a bit more patient, then we
could have put them under a bit more pressure," added Pards.
"I wasn't displeased with our performance and told the
players in the dressing room afterwards that they had put in the
maximum effort in a match where a bit of quality was lacking from
both sides in terms of the levels we're at.
"But as I said, there was that break and it went for them -
Maccarone took it well. We have come off the back of two fantastic
wins and it's such a shame that it's ended in defeat for us
here."
Hammers have another away day encounter following their trip north,
this time a bit closer to home in the shape of a visit to Stamford
Bridge to face London rivals Chelsea next weekend.
While the current Premiership champions pose a daunting challenge,
it is one that Pards feels the team will go all out to meet as they
look to pick up more points on their travels.
Pards said: "I think we knew these would be two tough games
and I am a bit aggrieved not to have come away from this one with
something. Boro were sound in the job they wanted to do but I
didn't think they had done enough to win it.
"It was disappointing to lose here but we can take positives
from it. It's going to be tough at Chelsea but we'll go
there confident. There are some decent games coming up for us over
the next month and we'll be striving to dig in and get the
results needed."
He added: "In the Premier League you have to try and pick as
many points you can away from home, it's absolutely essential
and we're not doing that at the moment.
"It's something we need to address, we go to Chelsea next
and that's not a bad place to start. You might only get one or
two chances there, but we will be aiming to take them."
by Laura Burkin