Curbs commends keeper Green

West Ham boss satisfied with his side's performance

By Laura Slatcher    Last updated: 30th August 2008

Alan Curbishley pre season

Curbishley: Keeper praise

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West Ham manager Alan Curbishley held reserved praise for goalkeeper Robert Green after his penalty save in the Hammers' 4-1 win over Blackburn on Saturday.

Curbishley's side went in 2-1 up at half-time but nearly lost their lead minutes after the break when Blackburn were awarded a penalty, Julien Faubert bringing down Jason Roberts.

But Green kept up his reputation as a penalty saver and Curbishley believes his performances should earn him England's number one shirt.

"All Rob (Green) can do is keep playing as he is," said Curbishley. "Week-in week-out he puts his performances in and often they go unnoticed.

Reputation

"I've said it to him before that sometimes he will stand out a little more and that happened today.

"Apart from the penalty save he was putting crosses under pressure and we know his performances should give him an England call-up."

The Hammers boss was also quick to recognise Blackburn's efforts during the game and concedes the final result could have been a lot different.

"Let's hope we can take a big boost from the result today," he added. "I thought we started ever so well today, very similar to the Wigan game, and got ourselves into a 2-0 lead.

Chances

"But credit to Blackburn, they came back and got back into the game straight away after our second goal.

"And really it was them that were forcing the issue in the second half but we held out and sometimes that's the way it is.

"I think when you sit down and watch the game again you'll realise that there could have been more goals because there were lots of chances.

"It was 4-1 but it could have been any score because there were so many chances flying around."