Zola hails 'massive' win

West Ham boss delighted after taking spoils in relegation six pointer

Last updated: 26th December 2009   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Zola hails 'massive' win

Zola: Welcome win

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West Ham boss Gianfranco Zola was delighted after his side beat rock-bottom Portsmouth 2-0 to climb out of the Premier League drop zone.

The Hammers took the lead via Alessandro Diamanti's first-half penalty before Radoslav Kovac made sure of the points with a late header.

The win lifted Zola's side up two places from second from bottom and the Italian was delighted with his side's Boxing Day display.

He said: "It was a fantastic win, a massive one. I rated this as a six-point game, it was so important for the table and for morale.

Character

"The boys won it with a lot of character and it will be a big boost for everybody."

Man of the match Scott Parker put in a box-to-box display and Zola hailed his influence.

"He is so important," said Zola. "You can't even measure it. He leads with his enthusiasm and example and I feel lucky to have a player like him."

The West Ham boss is now hoping his side can repeat their efforts of last season when a Boxing Day victory against Pompey sparked a run that saw them climb the table.

More security

"Hopefully it will be the same as last year," the Italian said. "We will face games now with a bit more security.

"In this period coming up I think we can do something important."

On a less positive note, midfielder Mark Noble suffered a hamstring injury, which is expected to keep him out of Monday's derby clash against Spurs.

"He felt his hamstring and had to come off," Zola confirmed. "I think he'll be out for Monday."