Nolan sings Carroll's praises

21 April 2013 16:36
West Ham captain Kevin Nolan praised Andy Carroll after the pair linked up in Saturday's 2-0 win over Wigan. The midfielder struck with a little over 10 minutes to go at Upton Park on Saturday to add to Matt Jarvis' first-half score and kill off any lingering chances of Wigan leaving east London with a positive result. The defeat leaves the Latics in the Premier League relegation zone but moves West Ham back into the top half of the table. Nolan, 30, had two chances in the first half to score the landmark goal but had to wait until late on after being set-up by close friend and former lodger Carroll. "I'm absolutely delighted. To get to 42 points and to reach 100 goals too was nice," Nolan said. "We have combined for quite a few goals - he keeps reminding me and saying that it's never the other way around. The big man's been fantastic since he's come back into the team. "He's looking really sharp and fit - he had another couple of good chances on Saturday. We seem to get on really well on and off the pitch, we just click and that's helped us with our games." Carroll has been in impressive form of late and West Ham manager Sam Allardyce remains hopeful he may be able to tie up a permanent deal for the Liverpool loanee in the summer. Nolan also wants Carroll to stay and has urged his team-mates to finish the season strongly after all-but securing their top-flight status. "I'm delighted that he's here and I'm hoping he will be for as long as I'm here," Nolan said. "You only have to look at how many games we've played and how many goals we've scored to see that. We feel we can score against anyone and cause anyone problems. "We can enjoy it (the rest of the season) but you have to remember we still have games in the Premier League to play. We're five unbeaten and we want to carry that on until the end of the season." Wigan boss Roberto Martinez was unhappy with the goals he saw his side concede at Upton Park and bemoaned their inability to find the back of the net of late. "The two goals are very soft from our point-of-view," he told the club's official website. "If you're going to go away from home and concede in that manner then you've got an impossible mission to get a result. "At the other end you look at the opportunities we created, but unfortunately converting chances hasn't been our strong point lately." The FA Cup finalists remain three points adrift of safety but the cup run means Wigan have a game in hand on a number of teams in and around them in the table. Martinez praised his players' work ethic in losing at West Ham and is hopeful another famous Wigan escape act can still be completed. "Both of today's teams were tired but we were the ones showing good energy towards the end, we just had to take those chances we created," he said. "We've still got an extra game on the team's around us and still have the opportunity to reach the figure we need to achieve our aims."

Source: team_talk