West Ham United Football Club News

• Nickname:Hammers
• Founded:1895
• Manager:Sam Allardyce

• Ground:Upton Park
• Capacity:35,595

Zola pleased with Hammers

25 Jan 2009 - 10:42:29

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Gianfranco Zola felt that his West Ham United side had put in a professional display in their 2-0 FA Cup fourth round victory at Hartlepool United.

Goals from Valon Behrami and Mark Noble were enough to secure victory at Victoria Park, with Zola believing his side were good value for their win.

He said: "It was the result we were looking for and we are pleased.

"It wasn't, especially in the second half, a brilliant performance, but maybe we thought we wanted to keep it that way and not risk too much.

"But it was a great result. That's what we wanted and it was very professional.

"To be fair, the players were really focused. They want to go to Wembley, we want to go to Wembley and to go there, we need to go through games like this."

Meanwhile, Zola dismissed rumours that centre-back Matthew Upson was absent as he is set to leave the club to join Manchester City.

The Italian added: "Matthew Upson didn't play today because he has played so many games and he needed a rest.

"He has also got some internationals coming up, so he needed to have a rest and I decided it was the time to rest him."