Tomkins eyes repeat result

James Tomkins has spoken about the belief in the camp as West Ham United put in the hard work at the training ground before Saturday's trip to Stoke City.

The West Ham United and England Under-21 defender cannot wait for the Barclays Premier League to get under way again after the international fixtures. He has fond memories of playing at the Britannia Stadium after a tremendous defensive display alongside Matthew Upson in last season's 1-0 away victory.

He said: "We are working hard all the time in training and looking to improve and we all believe, if we keep doing this, then the results will improve. It is still early on in the season, but we are looking to turn results around and will be aiming to try and do that starting this Saturday against Stoke."

Tomkins remembers a "physical battle" against Tony Pulis's side, although they also have a strong attacking reputation - particularly up front. As well as former West Ham winger Matty Etherington, the match could also feature summer signing Tuncay Sanli and lively forwards James Beattie and Ricardo Fuller.

The young defender says he expects the same sort of game as that last meeting on 2 May and is hopeful for a similar result. "It was a very physical game, but we came away with all three points and we would look to try and do that again. It is a noisy stadium with their fans, but that is also good for an away team, it is good to play in front of that sort of atmosphere and we are looking forward to the game."

Tomkins, returned to Chadwell Heath this week along with club-mates Junior Stanislas and Zavon Hines following England U21's 6-3 win against FYR Macedonia in Coventry. The match saw striker Hines bag a brace and Tomkins playing a key role for the whole 90 minutes. Midfielder Stanislas was an unused substitute.

"Yeah, it has been a good week and it was great to play for England again," he said. "Zav did great with his goals, but it is good to be back and now we are only looking to the match with Stoke. We're not short of confidence, we believe in the way we play, the way the manager wants us to play and we are focusing on getting the right result."