Ipswich Town manager Paul Jewell was understandably delighted at his team's smash-and-grab raid in east London tonight...
Paul: Few would argue that you deserved that win?Yeah, but no doubt some will! First half I thought we were terrific, passed the ball really well. Chops [Michael Chopra] had a good opportunity when he hit the inside of the post. Obviously they were always going to be a threat from set pieces and stuff, but I thought we passed the ball really well first half and should have gone in [to half time] with the lead. Second half we weren't quite as fluent but we had to dig in and be resilient.
It must be the perfect birthday present for you?
It's a great birthday present yeah. It'll make my fortieth tomorrow very happy! [laughs]
You've had some good results here previously?
Yeah, it's quite strange; when I was manager of Wigan we used to beat West Ham most times here and they always beat us at home so it's a bit strange. But it's a great place to come and play football. It's a lovely stadium, it's a passionate ground. We knew we had to do a job on the crowd first - try and keep the ball and make them impatient. Credit to our players, first half we were terrific.
Most of your players have played three games in eight days but they kept going right to the end?
Yeah, three games in eight days now but it's the same squad and the same team. Football's a funny old game as they say. The confidence is there. A month ago we looked bereft of ideas, we looked as if we couldn't pick our feet up. We've had a bit of a change of fortune and we've got good players,. At the minute the players who are playing look full of confidence.
Lee Bowyer could have scored in the first half when he hit the post, but he wasn't messing about with that finish at the end?
I think I read in the program before the game, I think it was Mark Noble saying he has a habit of scoring against West Ham. So it was obviously a great moment for him to get his first goal for us. The one in the first half I was just expecting him to hit the net - even when he hit the post I thought it might have gone in. You start to wonder if it's going to be your night but we kept going. We created some good situations that we didn't make the most of but fair play to the players, I thought we deserved the win tonight.
What has he brought to you, apart from his goal tonight?
That's the first thing he's done! [laughs] I was going to ask him that actually! Listen, he's got experience, he's been around the block and the system we're playing at the moment seems to suit him.
That's three clean sheets in a row now, the two centre backs have really transformed you?
Yeah. They've been terrific, [Ibrahima} Sonko and Danny Collins. You know what you're going to get out of them - honesty. It's a tough place to come, you know; Carlton Cole is substituted and they bring on John Carew. It's a handful and we did really well. We're not the biggest team in the world and we knew we had to be strong at set plays. I was pleased with that part of our game as well.
And the full-backs were getting forward as well; fantastic, I thought?
Well they have to; if we're going to play that way they've got to be able to get forward. First half, we put 13 crosses in? Some of them weren't of a great quality but some great balls were going in the box. We looked full of confidence, we looked like we had plenty of movement and plenty of options on the ball. We played with vigour and we played with energy and the biggest thing - as anyone will tell you - is we're playing with confidence. But we won't get too carried away.
It's been a difficult couple of days for Carlos Edwards* as well but it didn't seem to affect him one bit, did it?
No... [long pause, then laughs] Look, I have to be careful, whatever's gone on is a legal case and I can't comment on it. If I knew what was going on I couldn't tell you, but I don't know, so... But he's played his game and he was terrific, yeah.
* http://www.twtd.co.uk/news.php?storyid=19256
* Something to say about this story? Please visit the KUMB Forum to leave a comment.
