Gianfranco Zola has emphasised the determination within the West Ham United camp to focus fully on a strong Premier League finish.
With 12 games to play, the club are well-placed to make a challenge on the teams just above in the standings - namely seventh-placed Wigan Athletic and eighth-ranked Fulham, who have trips to Chelsea and Arsenal respectively on Saturday. The Hammers are then in action on Sunday lunchtime when a Manchester City side looking to make their own assault on the top half of the table arrive at the Boleyn Ground.
Although the disappointment of Wednesday night's FA Cup exit at Middlesbrough after a 2-0 fifth-round replay defeat still lingers, Zola is expecting a reaction from his team who until last weekend had not lost away since 29 October and have shown good form of late at home. "The guys are not willing to sit on this too long and we are determined to put another run of good results together," he said. "We know what we are capable of achieving and will work very hard to make this happen."
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The manager acknowledged though that his team's display at the Riverside, that featured a Stewart Downing set-piece and opportunist Tuncay strike, "certainly hasn't been our best performance". With reference to the previous defeat at Bolton Wanderers that began with a Matt Taylor free-kick, he added: "It is not easy to start for the second time in a few days with an opposition player putting the ball in the top corner and then after that straight away to concede another goal. That made it difficult for everybody - especially confidence wise.
"It hasn't been a great performance but I believe the players gave everything as well. That is encouraging. We had to try and score before half-time. We didn't manage to do that and in situations like this the confidence of the other team increases where ours goes down. We prepared properly and then you have a player that puts the ball in the top corner [like Downing did]. Maybe the second goal I might have something to talk about - we will look at that during the week."
Zola had Radoslav Kovac making his debut and his extended run-out will have been invaluable as the Czech international midfielder builds up his match sharpness while the contest offered more invaluable top-level experience for youngsters like James Tomkins and Freddie Sears. Above all, the manager was keen to emphasise the postives seen and heard from the huge travelling band of fans.
"I am very disappointed for our supporters. Once again they were fantastic. They came here with a big crowd and we wanted to give them something more," he said before stressing that his players would do all they could to repay that backing at the earliest opportunity.
"It is not a very good moment but it will not last long - that is for sure. We are determined to stop this run straight away. Sunday is a very important match and the players know it. We will see what we can do. It is a tough match but we know how important it is for us and we are not willing to lose it. I don't think we are far away from a win. The players know what they have to do and I am sure they will get back to the winning habit."