Kevin Nolan is not giving up on gaining automatic promotion, despite the disappointment of Saturday's 4-2 npower Championship defeat by Reading.
The Hammers missed out on the chance to leapfrog the Royals into second place, while also surrendering their eleven-game unbeaten run and losing their fourth home match of the season. All that after Carlton Cole had fired West Ham into an early lead at the Boleyn Ground.
Despite that hat-trick of body-blows, Nolan is adamant West Ham can still overhaul either Reading or Southampton - who lost 3-0 at Blackpool - and get their passports back to the Premier League stamped without the need for the Play-Offs.
"Having gone ahead at home, it was doubly frustrating to lose, especially as we dominated from the first minute until the 40th and the next thing we were 2-1 down going in at the break. It's something we'll learn from. We have six games left and we've got to win each one of them as they come along and I'm confident we can do that.
"I've not looked at their runs, only at ourselves. We only have ourselves to blame for where we are - no-one else. We have all got to stand up and be counted now, everyone. If we all stick together I'm sure we can all get what we want and that's to be in the Premier League at the end of the season.
"The be-all and end-all has been that our sloppy defending has cost us and nothing else. I thought we dominated the game throughout. I almost sure that their fourth goal was offside and I apologise if it wasn't.
"We've got to make sure we go on a run between now and the end of the season and hopefully put a bit of pressure on Southampton and Reading."
All four Reading goals came as a result of poor defensive play and Nolan claimed the Royals could still be caught between now and 28 April. Reading and leaders Southampton play each other, while both face a series of tricky fixtures against teams with either Play-Off places or a relegation battle to play for.
West Ham, meanwhile, will regroup ahead of a busy Easter weekend that sees them go to Barnsley on Friday before hosting Birmingham City a week on Monday.
"Reading have been on a fantastic run and did well on Saturday and have got what they wanted, but we were hit with a sucker punch and we've got to get up. I think we're big enough and we've got the fans and the squad to reach our target.
"Of course automatic promotion is still the target. There is a mini-league between three of us now so let's see if we can break them before the end of the season. If not, it's Plan B. Easter weekend is going to be massive. All hope is not lost. We're not all down in the dumps. We're looking forward to putting the wrongs right next Friday."
