Blues boss Paul Jewell felt his side thoroughly deserved their 1-0 victory over West Ham at Upton Park with former Hammer Lee Bowyer netting a late winner. The result was an early birthday present for Jewell, who celebrates his 47th birthday on Wednesday.

Jewell said: “I thought in the first half we were terrific, we passed the ball really well. Chops had a good opportunity and we’ve hit the inside of the post.

“Obviously they were always going to be a threat from set pieces and stuff, but I thought we really passed the ball well in the first half and should have gone in ahead. In the second half we weren’t quite as fluid but we dug in and were resilient.”

The Blues boss says Upton Park is somewhere he enjoys visiting: “It’s quite strange, when I was at Wigan, we used to beat West Ham most times here and they used to always beat us at home.

“It’s a great place to come and play football. It’s a lovely stadium, it’s a passionate ground. We knew we had to do a job on the crowd first and try and keep the ball and try and make them impatient. Credit to our players, I thought in the first half we were terrific.”

Jewell, whose side are up to 11th but on the same points as Peterborough in seventh, was pleased with the way his team kept going to the final whistle, despite most of them having played a lot of football over the last week: “It’s three games in eight days and it’s been the same team.

“Football’s a funny old game, as they say, and confidence is there. A month ago we looked bereft of ideas. We looked as if we couldn’t pick our feet up. We’ve had a little bit of a change of fortune and the players are full of confidence.”

The Town manager says Bowyer has a good goals record against his old club: “I think I read in the programme Mark Noble saying that Lee Bowyer has a habit of scoring against West Ham. It was obviously a great moment for him getting his first goal for us.

“In the first half I was expecting the one that hit the post to go in. You start to wonder if it’s going to be your night, but we kept going and on the break we had some good situations that we didn’t make the most of, but fair play to the players, I thought we deserved the win tonight.”

The clean sheet was Town’s third in a row, the first time they have achieved such a run since March 2005 when they beat Nottingham Forest 6-0, Cardiff City 1-0 and then drew 0-0 with Gillingham.

Jewell was full of praise for his two new centre-halves: “They’ve been terrific, Sonko and Danny Collins. You know what you’re going to get out of them — honesty.

“It’s a tough place to come. Carlton Cole and then John Carew on as substitute, they’re a handful and we did really well. We’re not the biggest team in the world and I was pleased with that side of the game as well.”

Overall, the Town manager was looking forward to Wednesday’s birthday celebrations: “It’s a great birthday present, it’ll make the 40th tomorrow very happy!”

West Ham boss Sam Allardyce was angry that his side conceded their fourth late goal of the season but admitted his team were second best, particularly in the first half.

Allardyce says the Blues are the best team the Hammers have played so far and expects them to be in the shake-up come May: “For two years now they’ve spent a lot of money. What was it £18-£20 million that Roy spent in his first year?

“Jagger [Jewell] hasn’t spent that much but like myself has picked up some good experienced players that have got a lot of experience in the Premier League.

“They came together very nicely in the Coventry game and at Middlesbrough, and certainly today they’ve punished us.

“I think they’re as good a side as we’ve met, I have to say, even though we were poor and I was disappointed with the way we played. Some of that you have to put down to how well Ipswich played.”

Photo: Action Images

simplesuffolkfarmer1 added 23:00 - Sep 27 so happy
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simplesuffolkfarmer1 added 23:02 - Sep 27 Lovely to hear comments like that from such an experienced manager
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captaincrunch added 23:04 - Sep 27 We did good but how bad were West Ham? I would prefer to think of it as we made it so tough for them that they could not play the way they intended to. If we are performing this well with a formation and tactics that Jewell has stumbled upon by accident, imagine how good we would be if it was all carefully organised lol.
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TractorBeezer added 23:05 - Sep 27 Thanks Big Sam for your graciousness. That's 2 or 3 teams now that have said that we are the best they've played so far. Happy Birthday PJ! You really deserve it. I would buy you a drink if I could.
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Suffolk_n_Good added 23:05 - Sep 27 Crackin' result, 3 clean sheets in a row. Hunger, desire, & passion seem to have returned, big well done to the team, a massive pat on the back to Jewell. Enjoy your 47th birthday PJ! (tell you what Pj doesn't look a day over 50!!)
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captaincrunch added 23:05 - Sep 27 They say good teams are built from the back and it seems that since we got sonko in and then collins, our fortunes have really turned around... so I would tend to agree with that statement :P
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cooper4england added 23:08 - Sep 27 Wonder what the chances are of Collins signing permanently? As all the above say, great result. COYB
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Blue_75 added 23:09 - Sep 27 Super performance tonight - our best for a long long time!! First half it was all us and we made them look very ordinary. My Everton mate was surprised how good we were! We've got a chance to really get something going here now! COYB's
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Garv added 23:09 - Sep 27 Where do I start?
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TractorBeezer added 23:10 - Sep 27 captaincrunch...and don't forget Stockdale who is solid and communicates well. He must really have a huge effect on overall confidence,
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Smithy added 23:15 - Sep 27 Not a bad performance from anyone for 3 games, lets hope this side stay fit and well for a long time to come. Sonko for me has made a huge difference, such a prescence and his will to win is rubbing off on all. £18-20m pah!!
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tellitasiseeit added 23:15 - Sep 27 Brilliant, well played to everyone,on these performances we could well be in contention near the end of the season? But thats a long way off and many things could happen on the way.But for now lets do some nose rubbing to all those non believers at the start of the season.Well done Paul Jewell enjoy your birthday COYB
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blues1971 added 23:16 - Sep 27 Fantastic result! 1 point from the playoffs!
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brogansnose added 23:17 - Sep 27 Happy birthday Paul. Fat Sam, you are a sorry excuse of a football manager and in your case I use the term very lightly. Onwards and upwards. C O Y B.
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Garv added 23:23 - Sep 27 @cooper4england I'm thinking more about the chances of the boo boys coming out of their hole to congratulate Jewell and the team to be honest. Great result! Turning some heads now, holding Boro on Saturday and beating the Hammers tonight! Only listened to the game so can't comment too much but it seems we played really well yet again, and I'm very happy about Bowyer getting the goal, he hasn't really set the world alight since he's been here but in the last three games he's looked a lot better and inparticular fitter. This goal could really give him some confidence and can see him scoring some more. Defence again superb. Wasn't sure about our midfield against theirs tonight but a comment on twitter from a disgruntled Hammers fan told me all I needed to know, 'God we're bad, that was not 4-4-2, Noble and Nolan a waste of two shirts'. That and radio commentary. Bring on Brighton on Saturday!

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CraigForrestGateau added 23:24 - Sep 27 Get in great result. Who cares if whu were off form tonight it's the points that matter. 3 clean sheets on the spin is going to wonders for confidence, and we seem to be finding our feet now. Bring on Brighton who also are starting to show signs of slipping up slightly. Great to see the whole team celebrating together aswell tonight, something we rarely saw under keane. COYB.

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blues1971 added 23:27 - Sep 27 My Birthday was yesterday and my name is Paul too. lol What a great result, over the moon lol
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Tractamatt added 23:33 - Sep 27 Absobloodylutely subleedinperb i was waiting for a hard fought 1-0 defeat but i'm just so happy.Lets hear the moaners now.P.J has only gotta keep the players feet on the ground and don't get over confident against Brighton and we are seriously rolling.Cooper4England I was under the impression that Collin's loan has already been spoken about as potentially going permanent only rules and red tape will mean we wont have him over the christmas period.

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marcus139 added 23:55 - Sep 27 I will sleep well tonight. As proud as punch !
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bringbackthedutch added 00:00 - Sep 28 That was great, first half was the best we've played for years. Still a few obvious weaknesses like nobody on the right except Carlos, but what a flippin' step forward. Long may it last!
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Yeasayer added 00:02 - Sep 28 Love the way Allardyce commented on the money Clowno spent, when only 3 of his signings featured... Proves you can't buy a football team! What a game!
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arablue added 00:13 - Sep 28 Have to say that we are at our best playing attacking football, and that 4-5-1, no matter how one spin it as 4-3-3 when attacking, does not quite work...perhaps the Ipswich attacking DNA from the days of sir bobby and his great side of mariner, brazil, wark etc still run in our veins... So, credit when it's due, h32 you are right on having 2 upfront...we sucked at trying to grind results by flooding our defence and midfield and hope that when we attack, our players are fast and "smart" enough to convert our play to a 4-3-3 formation. Happy times none the less!

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arablue added 00:16 - Sep 28 Brighton game should be an interesting one...chops due for a goal, or three!
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johnnyTGrotten added 00:26 - Sep 28 Can't say i'm one of the boo boys but i have been concerned of late! just hope that its not our usual thing of doing well against the big teams but struggling against the lower teams. Still though, good result! Bring on brighton!!!!!
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TractorRoyNo1 added 00:36 - Sep 28 I'm sure PJ wishes it was indeed his 40th this week. Also good to know that Big Sam has built inflation busting figurers into Keane's spending spree.
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