Grayson on... West Ham United

  • by Staff Writer
  • Sunday, 21st August 2011

A happy Simon Grayson insisted that his Leeds United side were fully deserving of a point from this afternoon's Championship clash at the Boleyn - if not more...

Simon: did you deserve to get the point?

Well I would certainly agree with you on that aspect. I think from start to finish we were very good. Take away the first five or six minutes when you know West Ham are going to come out of the traps quickly; a few set pieces and obviously we conceded and could quite easily have buckled. But we showed a great attitude, resilliance and [other] qualities as well and rightly so got back into the game, second half, with the goal.

Then, the stuffing was knocked right out of us when we were on top with the own goal. But again, full credit to the players - they dug deep, showed the quality we've got within the team and desire to go and get a result still. Justifiably so, we got an equaliser; I think that was the least we deserved over the course of the game.

West Ham, at the moment, seem to be fearing playing here. Did you sense that today?

Yeah, we said to the players: "It's not easy being favourites [to win] the division. Everybody wants to beat you." We've had it for three or four years being in League One. It can be a pressure atmosphere and we wanted to try and get off to a good start and make it difficult for them. Obviously we didn't do that but full credit to my players, they kept going to the end.

You could sense a bit of nervousness creeping in, but you have to deal with that situation when you've got Premier League players, internationals - everybody wants to beat you and that comes with the tag of being favourites for the division.

What did you make of some of the referee's penalty decisions today?

I thought he was very good. It was a difficult game, there was a hostile atmosphere and two teams trying to win the game. I think on another day both teams could have had penalties, because I thought we had a claim and they could have had a claim for one as well. So I think it could have gone either way. I thought he was decent.

Adam Clayton was immense today in the middle of the park?

Well I think you look at all our players and the level of who they're playing against; Scott Parker, talking about going to a top Premier League team - and England internationals. Our players come out with a lot of credit for how they've played today in terms of mixing it with them, competing - but with quality on the ball as well [as] the work rate.

Certain individuals can be extremely proud of their performances, but for me the team performance was good against a team who will certainly be up there at the end of the season.

Was Michael Brown injured?

Yes, he had a calf strain so that made my decision slightly easier with Johnny Howson coming back from suspension. Gradel obviously came in for [Ramon] Nunez, it was an opportunity for Max to come back into the team. [A] fantastic talent, [he] showed a lot of character after he missed the penalty and showed his qualities. I'm delighted we had that opportunity to bring other players back into the team when we had to today.

Very happy with this week as well I'd imagine; it's been a good one for you?

It has. Today is slightly tinged with disappointment; when you come here and leave disappointed that you've [only] taken a two-two draw against the team that we've played against it shows immense qualities from our team. You need luck at times in games and we didn't get that in both boxes. But Sam could say the same I suppose about his team.

But when you look at the level of players on paper, our players have done immensely well today.

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