West Ham Fans Born to be Claret and Blue

Hammers travel to Eastlands this Sunday for a repeat fixture of our recent FA Cup replay tie, making this the third meeting in 15 days, in which a largely apathetic Manchester City side became a hiccup in West Hams recent excellent away form, instead of being dispatched with aplomb, Alan Curbishley and his band of battling walking wounded will be going all out to stave off a repeat performance of the result which saw West Ham fizzle out of the competition like a damp squib. It is to be hoped that this encounter will become third time lucky for the beleaguered Irons who will need a little more steel in their play this time around if they are to reverse the outcome of Wednesday night. Alan Curbishley has been quoted as saying; "if we can get a result on Sunday, we may catch one of the teams above us. We feel we have given ourselves a base, a bit of a chance to push on, we are looking to get into that top six or seven”. However, as well as going on to say, “we have to be looking upwards not downwards”, he must also be mindful of the fact that West Hams’ arch rivals, Spurs, continue their resurgence under Juande Ramos and have closed the gap with a win at home against Sunderland. With the possibility of a place in Europe by achieving a good cup run culminating in a FA Cup final, now well and truly gone, it would appear that mid-table mediocrity is not his [Curbishley’s] final goal, as assumed by many detractors, and will be looking for us to achieve a place in Europe on merit alone, sentiments that are a far cry from the horrors of last seasons’ campaign and that desperate ‘run-in’. Words quoted also included "What I am going to say to the side, certainty the offensive players, is: 'Give us something a bit more, let's take our chances and be more clinical'. These will be music to the ears of those that have become a little impatient with the recent‘long-ball’ style of play. .........................................West Ham (from): Green, Wright, Neill, Spector, Ferdinand, Upson, Collins, Gabbidon, McCartney, Bowyer, Faubert, Noble, Mullins, Etherington, Boa Morte, Reid, Ashton, Cole. Thanks to Bill McGaughin for the pre-match! - Ed