Grant praises Hammers´ comeback

Under-fire West Ham boss Avram Grant praised the resilience of his players after they came from behind to beat Fulham 3-1 on Sunday.

With one win from their past 12 English Premier League games heading into Sunday’s match, things looked dire for Grant when Aaron Hughes put Fulham ahead early on.

But West Ham responded well through a goal from Carlton Cole and a Frederic Piquionne strike on the stroke of half-time gave the visitors the lead.

Cole added a second 16 minutes from full-time to complete the win and lift West Ham off the bottom of the league much to the delight of Grant, whose future has come under increasing speculation in recent weeks.

“It was a good game for us – we came back which was amazing,” Grant said.

“Fulham had a lot of possession and they were controlling it without creating chances.”

Under-fire West Ham boss Avram Grant praised the resilience of his players after they came from behind to beat Fulham 3-1 on Sunday.

With one win from their past 12 English Premier League games heading into Sunday’s match, things looked dire for Grant when Aaron Hughes put Fulham ahead early on.

But West Ham responded well through a goal from Carlton Cole and a Frederic Piquionne strike on the stroke of half-time gave the visitors the lead.

Cole added a second 16 minutes from full-time to complete the win and lift West Ham off the bottom of the league much to the delight of Grant, whose future has come under increasing speculation in recent weeks.

“It was a good game for us – we came back which was amazing,” Grant said.

“Fulham had a lot of possession and they were controlling it without creating chances.”

“I didn’t like the goal we conceded but we scored three and we could have scored more so I’m happy.”

“The players are happy with the win and they want to taste it again.”

With the win taking the heat off Grant for the time being, the blowtorch is now trained on Fulham boss Mark Hughes, who was greeted with chants of ‘you don’t know what you’re doing’ when he took off winger Clint Dempsey in the second half.

Hughes said he could understand the fans anger with the form of his team, who have not won in the Premier League since a 2-0 triumph over Wigan on October 31, and are now in the relegation zone.

“I think there’s a little bit of frustration. Obviously if you lose home games then they’ll be frustrated but it hasn’t happened on a regular occasion this season,” Hughes said.

“I think deep down the vast majority understand what we want to do and they’ll be patient.”

Hughes said he was optimistic of bringing in a striker when the January transfer opens.

“Hopefully (we can bring someone in), we need help in January, that big target man and then we’ll be fine. I keep saying it – we lack that cutting edge at the moment. We need to finish chances and take opportunities.”