West Ham United manager Gianfranco Zola was delighted with the spirit and application his side showed in the goalless draw at Aston Villa which lifted the Irons out of the relegation zone.

A point from the Villa Park clash lifted Zola's men up to 16th place in the Premier League, despite the Upton Park treatment room remaining a crowded place.

Zola commented:"I am delighted and lucky to have a bunch of players that are fantastic. Their commitment, passion and desire to please me and the supporters is unbelievable.

"If we perform like this and we have everybody back, it is down to us. We are good enough to start climbing the league, but we must have the same attitude and we will have some players back that are missing.

"It is massive to be out of the bottom three. But not just being out of the bottom three, picking up a point here is not an easy task. That will give the players a big boost in confidence and many other things.

"Then we have another tough match against Portsmouth and then a run of games at home. It is a big opportunity and the Villa match will prepare ourselves properly to play the next games.

"It will let us push clear as we have important players coming back. The performance will give us a platform for the future."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email