Joe Cole storms back with the perfect reply — a goal

West Ham midfielder Joe Cole has admitted he should not have acted the way he did after being substituted in the defeat by Chelsea.

Cole was taken off after 40 minutes of the 3-0 home defeat and vented his anger in public by storming down the tunnel but he was feeling much happier after coming on and scoring in the 3-0 win over Fulham.

“I was wrong to react the way I did against Chelsea but it was understandable and we’ve drawn a line under it,” said Cole, who completed the scoring in the 88th minute on Saturday.

“Monday morning it was forgotten and I was focusing on the next game. It was just an emotional reaction — you can’t always control your emotions and sometimes it’s not good to. I’m happy here at West Ham. I’m really enjoying my football and I would like to be on the pitch every minute — everyone would. We have a great set of lads, a good core of British players who get on.”

Sam Allardyce’s ‘striker-less’ experiment finally came to an end against Fulham, who parted company with Martin Jol yesterday following the defeat. Instead, the West Ham manager plumped for Modibo Maiga up front and, when the Mailian tired, he brought on Carlton Cole who scored.

“I was pleased for Carlton because I know how hard he has worked,” said Joe Cole. “He has had a difficult summer but when he scored a goal it was a real lift for him and you want your centre-forward scoring because he is the focal point.