Hammer of The Year urges commitment from teammates

Hammer Of The Year Scott Parker has predicted another hard season for West Ham despite capturing a precious point at relegation rivals Stoke.

The East End club narrowly avoided the drop last term and before Saturday had not put a point on the board this campaign.

The Hammers put in their best showing of the season so far in the 1-1 draw at the Britannia on Saturday, but Parker, who recently signed a new five-year deal with the club, remains realistic about the season ahead.

“It’s going to be a tough season for us. There’s no hiding the fact it’s going to be difficult,” said the midfielder, who was full of praise for his side’s performace.

“If we show the commitment and desire we showed today (Saturday) we will certainly pick up results more than we won’t. We all know that in the Premier League, you can have as much quality as you want, but what you need is commitment and you need a real desire to win and go a beat teams and I think we showed that today.

“We have got a lot of quality in our side and I think today in the first half we came to Stoke and dominated the game and possibly could have been better off than 2-0 up.

“I can’t really remember them creating any chances. We hit the bar and had other chances so it’s going to be a tough season.

“If we’re being brutally honest with ourselves we would have taken a point before the start, but we do need to start winning.

“I think it’s a good start. We’ve come to Stoke, and with the way things are going there are a lot of people out there who wouldn’t of thought we’d get a result, but we defended well and showed a lot of commitment and desire.

“When you’re West Ham and in the Premier League, every game is tough.”