Champions or bust

West Ham United captain Kevin Nolan insisted that the Hammers were 'absolutely magnificent' in their 2-0 win at Cardiff - a victory that lifts them to within a point of league leaders Southampton.

Nolan and his team gave the losing Carling Cup finalists something of a footballing lesson at the Welsh club's new stadium this afternoon, taking all three points courtesy of goals from Nolan and full back George McCartney.

And despite the win not being enough for the Hammers to overhaul the Saints, who had a four-point advantage at the start of the day, Nolan warned Southampton that Sam Allardyce's side will be pushing them all the way for the title.

"We're going for first place," he told the BBC after today's game. "We want to win [the league]. We want to go up automatically, no doubt about that, but we want to go up as Champions - so we're going to push Southampton all the way."

Nolan - who was making his first appearance since receiving a three match suspension - was a key figure as the Hammers stretched their unbeaten run to five games.

But despite playing an important role he was also keen to praise the impact his fellow team mates had made in his absence.

"The lads have been fabulous since I've been out," he maintained. "I'm delighted to get on the score sheet - but I'm also delighted with the clean sheet and the win. I thought we were magnificent from start to finish - and well worthy of the 2-0.

"Last week they [Cardiff] were absolutely tremendous, we watched them in the sunshine in Dubai. Maybe that took a little out of them but we had to take advantage of it - and I thought we did today."