Youngsters on West Ham stalemate

Last updated : 13 January 2003 By Martyn Elliott

Goal scoring hero JJ said: "I thought we deserved something out of the game. We didn't deserve to go in 2-1 down.

"We had a big chance at the end of the first half with Clarence Acuna. He was unlucky not to score.

"The lads came out and put up a good fight and I was lucky enough to score an equaliser.

"I was on the edge of the box and when it got knocked down I took it on my chest. It dropped perfectly for me to hit it so I thought I might as well have a pop and luckily enough it went in the top corner.

"I got the goal last week against Wolves and I was hoping to build on that. I wanted a Premier League goal and that's what's happened. It was my first and very special.

"I should have done better with the second effort. It was an easier chance than the first.

"But after last week's massively disappointing result at Wolves it was important to come here and show some resilience and that's what we did."

Meanwhile defender Caldwell has held his hands up to making mistakes for both the Hammers goals.

"Long throws aren't always easy to deal with and obviously I didn't get enough on it," Caldwell said of Joe Cole’s effort.

"It was a disappointing goal to concede and the second was poor defending. I still feel I should have done better myself but it's important crosses don't get to that stage. Defoe's a tricky player and he scored a great goal.

"But I felt we did better in the second half. We were still up against it for the first 20 minutes - they were coming at us - but we defended well and never gave them a chance.

"We got better and better and should really have won it at the end. Jermaine should have scored but then he scored a wonder goal to level a few minutes earlier. I suppose it was a good result but we were disappointed with the draw."