Wednesday 25 March 2015 18:29, UK
West Ham manager Sam Allardyce says his team are now aiming for their best finish in the Premier League since promotion to the top flight.
The Hammers recorded their first league victory for two months on Saturday with a late goal from Diafra Sakho handing new Sunderland head coach Dick Advocaat a 1-0 defeat in his first game in charge.
West Ham's aspirations for the season were lofty early on, with a spot amongst the European qualification places on the cards until a run of poor form and injures put an end to those hopes.
Allardyce, though, is confident the east London club can now push on to do better than their top-10 finish of 2012-13 in their first campaign back in the Premier League after winning the Championship play-off final at Wembley.
"This squad needs to grow, to get bigger and better, but we need to finish this season off much better than 46 points," Allardyce said.
"Certainly by Christmas we had reset our goals to make sure we were going to get more points in the Premier League than we had ever done."
Allardyce will take his side to bottom-of-the-ladder Leicester after the international break, when he hopes some of their injuries will have cleared up.
"It has been a tough old period, but hopefully we will see more victories as the season draws to a close," Allardyce told West Ham TV.
"Hopefully we will have Winston Reid and Enner Valencia back after the international break, so it has probably come at a good time for us with regard to getting some of the injured players back, which would be great."
