Blues memories fire Groves

Paul Groves believed West Ham United have learnt their lesson from previous experiences against Birmingham City as the Hammers go for back to back wins on Sunday.

The club's senior coach said everyone was determined "to put the record straight" after the Carling Cup semi-final disappointment, and also the frustration of seeing a two-goal lead in the league meeting at St Andrew's back on 6 November turned into a 2-2 draw after a Blues onslaught in the closing stages.

Speaking to West Ham TV, he said: "You go back to the league game where a large portion of the game I felt that we were comfortable and we got ourselves into a good position. You have to give them credit with what they've got, they caused us one or two problems at the end of the game and got themselves level.

"All we need to do is to make sure that doesn't happen again and we can come out winners."

After the 3-1 victory away at Blackpool, Groves confessed the mood in the camp had been lifted even further than it had been by the arrival of Robbie Keane and Co.

"It has been a very good week, full of confidence after a good performance at Blackpool. It was a difficult game for us, we scored goals, created chances, and at the end when we had to defend we made it very difficult for them to get anything against us."

He also paid tribute to the travelling fans and hoped for more of the same in Sunday's crunch encounter at the Boleyn.

"The fans that went to Blackpool were tremendous in the way they got behind the players. We need them, especially when things get a bit tough. It makes a big difference for the players. They run that little bit more and get more blocks in. It encourages them."

Log on to West Ham TV now to see more from Paul Groves including his thoughts on the new recruits, the emergence of James Tomkins and also an exclusive update on how Thomas Hitzlsperger has been performing in training. Also playing now are exclusives with Gary O'Neil, Scott Parker, Demba Ba, Robbie Keane and all the Blackpool goals.