Conners Backs Alan

David Connolly says Alan Pardew will get it right at West Ham, but says fans will have to be patient.

David met Alan in the summer to discuss a possible move to Reading and, although he opted to come to West Ham instead, is happy to be working for him now.

Alan's loss then is his gain now, of course, and David says:

"Give him a bit more time to put his own stamp on the team and we will probably see the real manager.

"He has been good so far, disciplined, hard-working, organised - all those things that have been said about him are true."

Alan, of course, inherited a side that had just drawn two on the trot at home and a third draw on the trot in Alan's first game in charge continued that sequence.

But David is keen to point out the positives of the game and he says:

"We haven't got beaten against a good side although we could have nicked all three points.

"They scored a great goal to begin with which knocked the stuffing out of us a little bit but it was a great goal from a very good player.

"After that I thought we played some good stuff and had some of the better chances or half chances against a really good side and I would say we played all the football.

"As I say, when you concede a stunning goal like that it makes it hard for the rest of the game but we dug in and got the point in the end."

David says the side needs to adjust to life in the first division very quickly in order to get out of it, and is backing Alan as the man to help them do just that.

"I think everybody knows this division and if they don't they certainly will in the next few weeks.

"We can't keep saying we don't know this division - we have got to get on with it," he insists.

"We have got some tough games coming up but they are all games we can win."

David was up against highly rated centre half Michael Dawson, who several Premiership clubs are looking at, but David was unfazed.

"He is a good player but you come up against good players every week and you just get on with it, and I enjoy playing against good players," he says.

And, of new signing Hayden Mullins, he insists there is skill to go with the steel.

"Hayden is not a scrapper, he is a good player, and will be a good addition to the team," he concludes.