From humiliation to ecstasy for West Ham fans

West Ham United's Carlton Cole scores opening goal against Cardiff City beating Cardiff City's David Marshall. Photo: Nick Potts/PA Wire (Image: PA Wire/Press Association Images)

So after back to back humiliations dished out by Nottingham Forest and Manchester City, West Ham rediscovered their fighting spirit to claim a much needed and deserved three points from the City of Cardiff stadium.

The manner of the win went completely against what went before it; the defeats at Forest and City were limp, lifeless and gutless the performance in the Welsh capital however was full of passion, determination and bravery; epitomised by our central midfield pairing of Mark Noble and Matt Taylor who were the best players on the pitch.

A special mention also goes out to Carlton Cole who bagged his fourth goal of season; I think the fact that he was released during the summer turned out to be a good thing for him, as he’s come back with a renewed hunger and determination to succeed.

No-one could ever fault Coley’s effort, but at long last he’s adding goals to his endless toiling; his stay at the club will surely be extended till the end of the season and perhaps even beyond that.

Sam Allardyce has been the most talked about manager in the country this past week and if he’s going to be criticised for the mistakes that he’s made (and rightly so) then he must get the praise for the crucial win he dug out and the inspired selection of Matt Taylor. I like the fact Sam didn’t speak to the media after the win, his talking was done for him by the players on the pitch; such a performance is surely contradictory to that the old chestnut of a cliché that he’d ‘lost the dressing room.’

I’m not suggesting that everything is now ok and survival is a given, but what I am saying is that Gold and Sullivan have probably looked at the situation we’re in and decided they’d rather spend the money that it would take to sack Sam on bringing in new recruits and I do happen to agree with this policy; for all Sam’s faults the lack of available quality managers is there for one and all to see and those that are calling for Glen Hoddle…I urge you to seek professional help.

Newcastle up next and we must do something we’ve never done under Sam in the Premier League … secure back to back wins, I’d like to think if we can, that a psychological barrier will be lifted and we could go into the run of fixtures after Chelsea with a real belief that we could win 3 or 4 in a row against the teams around us.

With our injured players returning and new recruits hopefully joining our battle against the drop there is cause for just a little bit of optimism, however three points against Newcastle is a must.