Adam's Aim

Adam Nowland is aiming to play his part in making it another home win on Saturday - and answer Alan Pardew's call to make Upton Park 'a fortress'.

West Ham have had home league wins, albeit by narrow margins, over Rotherham and Cardiff recently, interspersed with the defeat by Fulham in the FA cup, and Adam says:

"Since I have been here the home form hasn't been a problem - not that it's been down to me because I haven't been playing - but I haven't noticed any lack of form at home.

"It seems we have turned the corner now and if we can continue to play how we are, and the confidence is brilliant, we will get results."

Bobby Zamora, who earned the penalty that gave the Hammers a draw at Burnley midweek, hopes to add to his tally after grabbing the all-important goal against Cardiff last Saturday.

"It was great for Bobby to score on his home debut; it was a great finish showing good composure, and that is what he has got in the bag," says Adam.

"That game was always going to be a hard 90 minutes against a good team, but I thought we had more opportunities to score goals and make it easy for ourselves - and that is the only disappointing thing.

"But in the end we ground it out as 1-0 and it is great to get that with a clean sheet."

Adam played central midfield when he came on as a second half substitute against Cardiff last week, with Nigel Reo-Coker shifting to the right, and he says:

"That is where I want to be; Nigel and Michael were in tremendous form on Saturday and the combination was great.

"I was hoping the manager would bring me on but I was expecting I would have to play somewhere around those two - but he changed it round and put me centre mid.

"I think he wanted to keep the ball a bit more, whereas Nigel likes to surge with it, so he wanted to calm it down a little bit.

"That is hopefully what I did; we kept a bit of possession and killed the game a little bit, while also looking to get the second goal to kill it off."

Which is exactly what Adam nearly did with a strong strike from outside the box...

"It was there to be hit and I saw the net bulging, to be fair; it was a sweet strike but not quite sweet enough - but a goal will come."

Adam was the last of the Wimbledon triumvirate to join West Ham this season and he says he is settling in fine:

"Jobi has come on and done a little bit and Nigel has been flying; I would just like to get a bit more time on the pitch but at the moment the lads are doing the business.

"Each little appearance is helping me settle in each time and when I do start I will be ready for it."

Adam, a Liverpool fan, from the north-west, made the briefest of substitute appearances on Tuesday, and says:

"All my family came down and it was a tough one, but we are on a little run now and we are not saying anything, just plodding along and keeping our heads down, working hard and seeing where it takes us."