Carlton Cole was delighted to return to the score-sheet against Manchester City after taking stock of his game with a well-earned rest.
The hard-working striker came off against Fulham last week pledging to focus on his finishing after drawing a blank in what was otherwise a strong all-round performance. He was then left out of the starting eleven in the midweek FA Cup trip to the City of Manchester Stadium, but switching off was furthest from his mind. It paid off on Sunday as he came back into the team and led the line superbly.
"I got dropped in midweek and it gave me a chance to get some rest, analyse my game against Fulham and come back and try to do better," he told WHUTV. "I played one up front. It was a hard job against [Micah] Richards and [Richard] Dunne and I felt I did OK."
He did more than OK, with a stunning overhead kick to open the scoring in the eighth minute. His all-round commitment and eye-catching finish left the watching former Hammer and current Croatia coach Slaven Bilic to claim the 24-year-old was an outside contender for Fabio Capello's first England squad later this month. "I am happy with those kind of goals, it was more instinctive," said Cole. "I have been working on my instinctive play."
Well aware that there is always room for improvement, particularly in front of goal, Cole added the team were working hard to be more composed when it matters most. "We were saying in the changing room that we were really disappointed not to come away with a win because we had our chances," he said. "We didn't capitalise on them and hopefully in the next game we will shake up, come back and be firing on all cylinders.
"We are really disappointed to come out of the cup as well but these things happen. We aren't going to play them again this season but I wish we could so that we could beat them next time. We should have beaten them. I understand their goal was offside but we have just got to get on with it. [Their goalkeeper] Joe Hart did really well. He was really chuffed with his performance. I saw his face, he was laughing and giggling. But that's what happens at this level, you have got good keepers and they make good saves." Good strikers score good goals too.