Avram Grant was left to lament a little on what might have been after seeing his side earn a battling point in a 1-1 draw against Everton in challenging circumstances.
While the visitors arrived on the back of an eight-day rest, the Hammers took to the immaculate Boleyn Ground pitch little more than 48 hours after a gruelling 3-1 victory at Fulham on Sunday. As a result, the manager was thrilled with the effort of his players, especially as he had to make four changes before kick-off and then saw two more - Herita Ilunga and Frederic Piquionne - limp off with muscle problems.
"We have just played two games in three days," said Grant. "I am delighted and impressed by the boys' effort. They gave everything and their movement and pressing was good throughout. I am very pleased with their commitment."
The Hammers had opened the scoring after Radoslav Kovac's hooked volley had forced a Tony Hibbert own goal only for Seamus Coleman to level just before half-time as he struck to finish off a superb team move. That said, Carlton Cole - the two-goal hero at Fulham - spurned a tremendous second-half opportunity after Freddie Sears had provided a perfect cross.
"We could have won the game with a big chance of Coley at the end to score. We had chances to win but the most important thing was that you saw the players give everything from start to finish. It is not easy to do what they did, especially against a team that was so fresh.
"Normally we would prefer to play Everton with equal preparation. The fact we looked so fresh was because of the effort of the players. We started well because we have been working hard all week. Unfortunately when you have a chance to kill, you have to take it. We didn't this time but this is football and in our best moment they scored a goal.
"I would have taken four points from two games before the Fulham and Everton matches but of course when you are playing well you always want more. We are improving and it is not easy when we are having to change the squad every week. I am very impressed. We even needed to make changes during the match but we kept going."
The manager will hope to have Valon Behrami back in contention on Saturday after a couple of days solid training at Chadwell Heath while Mark Noble has also stepped up his return and it is hope he is not too far away. January will also bring the transfer window and the possibility of one or two, or even three, new faces.
Whoever pulls on the claret and blue, the manager is confident that the spirit will see the side through. "The confidence is growing in the players, although the were like this before. I said many times they saw the difference between losing and taking points was only small because we dominated so many games. We had a good win two days ago and with a bit more freshness we could have taken the points again. We will do our best against Wolves."