Nigel Quashie took a few knocks during Sunday's epic game against Tottenham but he epitomised the Hammers' fighting spirit by playing on until he needed stitches.
"I took a couple of whacks on my ankle, then I went to have a shot and sliced my foot open on the bottom of one their players' studs and got a massive gash," he said. "There was no way I could have carried on.
"My foot had just completely blown up and I had the five stitches in it to keep the wound under control. Now I'm just waiting for these stitches to come out so I can get back training again and get involved with the boys."
When Nigel left the field in the 80th minute at 2-2, he wasn't prepared for the dramatic twists and turns that followed as Hammers looked to have grabbed the winner only for Spurs to come back and win the game in injury time.
"It was unbelievable," he admitted. "First half, I thought we were excellent. We did the dirty bits and got on with breaking the game up. We worked hard and made chances out of putting them under pressure and forcing them to give the ball away. That's how we got our two goals, which were two fantastic goals.
"I didn't understand how they could come back into the game when we went into half-time with a comfortable lead and in a good position to go on and win it."
Nigel is hopeful of returning to fitness in time for the Blackburn game next weekend and if he does he won't be shying away from crunching tackles.
"I'll always continue to get my foot in and let the flair players like Tevez and Benayoun open doors," he said. "I don't mind doing the dirty work. It'll go unnoticed but those sorts of players can win you football matches.
"I just sit in the background and do the worst bits and let those players get on with it, let the young players enjoy their football and just do the other side of it for the team.
"There's a lot of recovery time coming up, which can
work in my favour, but I just have to see how it goes and whoever
plays you know you'll get 100% from them. I'm just looking
forward to getting back involved on the training pitch for
starters."