Glen: I'd Prefer Points

Glen Johnson says he would gladly swap praise for his own performances for points on the board.

"I feel I am doing all right but I'd definitely have swapped a good performance for a point or three on Saturday," he says.

"All the other results went our way again, though, so someone is trying to keep us up, that's for sure."

Looking at the Elland Road defeat at the weekend, he says:

"The lads have given it their all but we just need a bit of luck; if Joe's shot had gone in or a couple of my headers, which on another day they would, it would have been different.

"I feel we went after it more with 10 men, though obviously you would prefer to have 11 - we should have done what we did with 10 men from the start."

The Hammers went down to 10 men when Fredi Kanoute was sent off, of course, and most eyes were following West Ham's attack down the left hand side rather than the fracas in the middle of the field.

"I was one of them; I didn't see anything so I can't comment," he admits.

And the winning goal?

"It was a deflection - it is happening to us all the time and we are not getting the breaks," he says.

Glen sacrificed a place in the England U20 squad that faced Germany on Thursday to prepare for the Leeds game - and has no regrets about his decision.

"I want to stay in the first team so I don't mind," he insists.

"Now it is a long two weeks to the West Brom game but we will be training hard for it - and I still feel we can stay up."

Congratulations meanwhile, to Don Hutchison, who has been named in the starting line up for Scotland against Eire - and possibly Gary Breen - on Wednesday.

It is his first competitive start in a game for nearly a year following his cruciate ligament problems, and he will play up front.

Christian Dailly, like Don a substitute at Elland Road on Saturday, also starts.