Kevin Nolan believes patience was the key to West Ham United's 1-0 npower Championship victory over Coventry City.

The skipper headed the all-important goal 24 minutes from full time, ending a spirited challenge from the struggling Sky Blues and kicking-off 2012 with three vital points.

West Ham's win lifted them back into second place, two points ahead of third-place Middlesbrough and level on points with leaders Southampton.

Nolan told West Ham TV that teams would continue to come to the Boleyn Ground to defend and urged both the supporters and his team-mates not to get frustrated if an early goal does not materialise.

"It's been a constant thing this year - when people come to us they set up that way and if we don't get the early goal a lot of people get jittery including the crowd and the players," said the No4.

"We've just got to keep plugging away and we did that on Monday. Credit to the lads because I think they showed a load of bottle.

"Thankfully Tonks has put one to the far post for me - the first one this year! I've been telling him to do it all season, so hopefully it's an omen that it'll be a good year for us.

"Hopefully this will catapult us on to a run. We've been disappointed with the last four or five games. We're looking forward now to a good start to 2012."

Nolan's goal was the result of a positive piece of play from the outstanding James Tomkins, who enjoyed a superb start to the new year with an eye-catching display at both ends of the pitch.

The centre-back won the ball in midfield before finding George McCartney and continuing his forward run into the Coventry penalty area. When McCartney's cross came over, Tomkins rose above Chris Hussey to head the ball to Nolan, who wrong-footed Joe Murphy.

"Tonks has been doing that all season, to be honest," said Nolan. "He's a young lad and is still learning. We're trying to teach him the right things to do and everything.

"For a young boy, he's got a good head on his shoulders - as have a lot of the young lads here. This season is going to give them the best preparation for the rest of their careers. It's a massive learning curve, giving them game time and hopefully preparing them for next season in the Premier League, because that's the ultimate goal.

"Everyone in the dressing room wants to be there and we've got to prove we're good enough to be there."

With Southampton and Middlesbrough both losing, West Ham made up ground on their nearest promotion rivals. However, as a Championship winner himself two seasons ago, Nolan knows it is about what the Hammers do themselves that will decide their ultimate fate.

Kevin Nolan steers his header past Coventry City stopper Joe Murphy

"To be quite honest, I'm not worried about what the other teams do," he confirmed. "I can only be worried about what we're doing here.

"It's been a massive turnaround in six months with what's happened at the club. The fans have been great with us and been very patient. They've got to continue to be patient and I can't thank them enough.

"What we're trying to achieve and get back to is the Premier League and that's the ultimate goal. We won't get there without them and we know that they deserve to be there, so we're going to be trying our socks off from now until the end of the season.

"We hope that they'll stick with us because with them I'm sure we'll be in the fold come the end of the season."