Billy McKinlay has urged his West Ham United team to take the opportunity in front of them when they head to Bristol City on Tuesday night.
The Hammers face an Emirates FA Cup third-round replay against the Robins after the teams drew 1-1 at London Stadium in the first running of the tie just over a week ago.
On that occasion, Jarrod Bowen gave the Irons a fourth-minute lead, only for the visitors to peg them back in the second period through Tommy Conway.
That means they need to do it all again in Bristol with a home fourth-round clash against Nottingham Forest or Blackpool awaiting the winners.
Here’s what first-team coach McKinlay told the gathered media in his pre-match press conference…
The challenge of Bristol City
There were no surprises in the first game. They fully deserved the draw.
We had a couple of opportunities to increase the lead after we scored early, but the game was really difficult.
Going there tomorrow night, it’ll be a full house. FA Cup, away game, midweek – it’ll be a good atmosphere and we’re looking forward to it.
We’re confident we can produce a performance that will hopefully get us through. We’re going to have to play well, deal with the atmosphere – we play in front of big crowds, big atmospheres every game. It’ll add to the occasion and we’re looking forward to the game.
Cup run aims
We play games to win. You talk to anyone around the Club and you want to be successful in the cups.
Winning breeds a hunger and a desire to go again. The first half of the season has been really, really good, but that’s gone and we need to start the second half of the season by winning games again.
We need the same appetite for winning, staying near the top of the table in the league and going as far as we can in cup competitions.
From my point of view, we’ve not been to the semi-finals, the final [of the FA Cup] for a number of years, and when you watch from the outside you’re jealous.
That never leaves you. The early rounds can be difficult, especially with how they fit into the schedule, but when you look at what happens in the business end of the competition, that makes it all worthwhile.
Dealing with a busy schedule
The way they’ve structured the mid-season break has been a bit of a hybrid, with some clubs getting the first part of it off, and some the second part, so there’s probably no other way of getting the fixtures in.
I’ve not really looked too deeply into the whys and why nots of the fixture dates. In general the players are playing a lot of games and the fixture calendar is congested. That’s the way it is.
The players are used to having that number of games. We’re delighted we’ve got the game and we’ve still got an opportunity to progress in the FA Cup.
Prospect of January business
We’re always looking to do business in terms of improving the squad. January is a difficult window as everybody talks about.
We’re on the lookout to see if there’s anything that we think can improve the squad, but fully focused on what we’ve got in the building.
Opportunities for the squad
The squad might not be as big for the next couple of games as it has been because of injuries. Players have to take their opportunity when it comes.
No player is ever content when they’re not selected, so if and when they’re given their opportunity that’s their job to produce what they’re capable of.
They’ve been big players for us for the last number of years and we trust them, it’s just that the players ahead of them have been producing. That’s what happens.
It’s a big opportunity for them for the next couple of games, certainly Tuesday, and we’re confident we’ll see what they’re capable of producing.
