James Tomkins continued his Premier League education in the 2-1 defeat at Bolton Wanderers and is in pole position for an FA Cup chance on Wednesday.
On Saturday, the England Under-19 centre-back was called upon after just 16 minutes when James Collins was forced off with a hamstring injury. By that stage, Matthew Taylor and Kevin Davies had already given the Trotters a 2-0 lead at the Reebok Stadium but after that it was all about the visitors and Tomkins was particularly impressive.
With Collins sidelined, he is eyeing a starting place in the fifth-round replay at Middlesbrough and hopes to stake his claim for a regular spot in Gianfranco Zola's side. However, he is mature enough to concede that he will need to work as hard as ever to stand a chance.
"Obviously Ginge has been doing very well when he has been playing but maybe there is going to be a chance for me. You obviously feel for the lad and hope he's not going to be out for too long because he's been doing really well for us. If I get my chance I've got to take it, but no place is guaranteed at the moment.
"It was quite a surprise to see James go down but you have to knock out the nerves and take it as it comes. We were 2-0 down so it was fairly hard circumstances but you have to put that behind you and play the game as you do."
With the physically-imposing tandem of Davies and Sweden international Johan Elmander lined up against him, the 19-year-old rose to the challenge with an eye-catching performance at both ends of the pitch on his first league appearance of the season. While Tomkins coped admirably with the threat of Bolton's powerful attackers, he also posed a threat at the attacking end, winning a series of headers inside the hosts' penalty area.
"We started poorly and conceded two goals in the first 15 minutes and it was always going to be a long way back from there," he said. "We outplayed them and in the second half especially we had a lot of chances to win the game. We had a mountain to climb, though, after going 2-0 down so early.
"In the dressing room everyone was down but we've got to pick ourselves up again quickly because we've got a game on Wednesday. We have to look back at it quickly, look at the errors that we made and obviously carry on from there because we've got a big game coming up."
While he was disappointed to finish on the losing side Tomkins, who was initially drafted into the Hammers lineup at the tail-end of last season, was grateful for the chance to test himself against Bolton and, in particular, the muscular Davies.
"They are very physical. Kevin Davies has got bags of experience and it's done me wonders in terms of my own experience. I learned a lot playing against him and I didn't think I did too badly. We were obviously 2-0 down when I came on so it was fairly hard circumstances but I'm learning with every game I play.
"I could have done better with a few headers but as long as I'm getting in the box and attacking them [that's good]. It's another area of my game that I've tried to improve and I just need to take my chances if I get them. It would have been nice to notch but I'm going to keep battling away and working hard in training. It would be nice to score at Middlesbrough."