Alan: We're On A Roll

Alan Pardew says it was vital not to have lost at Wigan even if that wouldn't have affected West Ham's position in the table.

"It was a tough game in terms of the mentality of it but in the end we rallied and got a good result," he says.

"It was nice to send the 8,000 fans we had there relatively happy; it would have been a shame if we had got beaten with that sort of support up there.

"One of the important things for us was to keep the belief and trust in the team with the fans and getting the late goal, proving we can weather a storm and come, back all shows the character of the side.

"Three wins and a draw reflects decent form going into the playoffs.

"It was a horrible week for me; we strived to keep everybody focused on what we had to do at Wigan but by the same token there was the worry of something nasty happening so it was a no-win situation in some ways.

"So to come through that test was good and I was pleased to get it out of the way by not losing, which would have been the easy thing to do.

"It was important to equalise and it was a great finish from Deano; we worked hard to create the chance for him and he took it."

In the semi-final second leg of the playoffs, if the aggregate scores are level at the end of 90 minutes, extra time will be played.

If the scores remain level at the end of that the tie will be determined by penalty kicks.

The same goes for the final.