Luke's League Aim

AFTER his livewire performance stole the show in Saturday's 1-0 win over Norwich City, winger Luke Chadwick was delighted to have secured West Ham's place in the FA Cup Fourth Round.

But the 24-year-old was quick to stress that promotion remains the number one goal for Alan Pardew's team and knows the Hammers must transfer the winning habit into their Championship performances.

"We put in a very good performance against Norwich and deserved to go through to the next round," exclaimed Luke.

"It was a brilliant cup-tie, full of action, and both sides played some good football. On the day I think we worked really hard, matched them in every department and no one could begrudge us the win.

"After the disappointment of losing to Sheffield United it was great to put in a strong performance against a Premiership side and more importantly earn a victory. We owed it to the fans and we're glad that we gave them plenty to cheer.

"I'm looking forward to seeing who we get in the next round. Hopefully it will be another home draw against a Premiership side, as it's good for the fans to see the best teams come to Upton Park."

To cap off one of his best displays for the Club, it was Luke's 81st minute cross that Marlon Harewood converted for West Ham's winner. But with typical modesty, the former England Under-21 star admitted that the victory was down to an excellent team display.

"There were some really big performances on the day," he said. "Mark Noble, making his full debut, played with a lot of enthusiasm and there was a real energy about our overall display.

"For the goal I managed to get free down the right and Marlon did great to divert his run and find some space. Thankfully I got the ball across to him and he finished it well.

"Hopefully, we can take the confidence we've gained from beating Norwich game back into the Championship, where we face a tough trip to Wolves this weekend.

"The League is still our main aim and we need to start winning games and moving ourselves closer to the leaders.

"We've got the quality to win automatic promotion and it's still a wide open division, but we need a run of results soon to close the gap on the team's above us.

"Everything is geared towards chasing promotion and it's important we don't lose sight of that goal."

But, despite remaining committed to the promotion challenge, Luke admits that the atmosphere of the FA Cup is a great distraction for players and fans alike.

"The FA Cup is a wonderful competition," he enthused, "and like every player I always want to do well in it.

"I'll be looking forward to the draw as much as anybody this afternoon and we showed against Norwich with our performance that progressing in the Cup is very important to us.

"But this week it's back to the League and we've got to focus our attention on Wolves. Consistency has been a big problem for us so far this season, and we can go some way to solving that with another strong performance on Saturday."