Noble determined for derby
Mark Noble imagined playing football with his friends to net a vital penalty against Portsmouth
Lifelong West Ham United fan Mark Noble is desperate to earn victory at Millwall on Saturday lunchtime.
While he knows it will not be easy, the Canning Town-born player is adamant that Big Sam's side can bring three points back through the Blackwall Tunnel from The Den.
"With the players that we've got, we can go to any place and win," he told West Ham TV. "There is no other aim. We aren't going anywhere thinking a point is good enough, because a point isn't good enough for us. We want to win every game and that's what we're hoping to do.
"When you win games, everyone is happy, training is happier and the ground is happier and everything is a little bit better.
"We need to keep on winning to get to the place where we want to be - the Premier League - and carry on our form there."
Noble goes into the Millwall game on a high having imagined playing football with his friends to help him score his first goal of the season in the thrilling 4-3 npower Championship victory over Portsmouth last weekend.
The club's longest-serving player showed nerves of steel to convert from the spot after Pompey captain Jason Pearce had been penalised for handball, and revealed that his calmness was drawn from visualising himself playing football in the park with his friends.
Carlton Cole added a fourth a short time later to render Greg Halford's late spot-kick meaningless.
"The only think going through my head was where to hit it," the No16 said. "You just have to block everything out and imagine you're playing over the park with your mates.
"Luckily enough the keeper went the wrong way and I managed to score.
"The most important thing was Coley's goal which gave us a little bit of a cushion and we won the game, which is all that matters."
Noble was delighted not just to break his own seasonal duck but also to help his team record their first home win since overcoming Stoke City on 5 March 2011.
"We needed to get the voodoo off our backs. In the last couple of games, we've put in good performances but let in two late goals - one against Cardiff and one against Leeds. We needed to put them behind us and we did that.
"We got the three points and that's what we wanted."
Noble knows he will have to keep up the good work if he is to retain his place in the manager's starting XI.
With Henri Lansbury scoring and earning Man of the Match honours on debut, David Bentley catching the eye as a substitute, Kevin Nolan and Matt Taylor on form and Jack Collison left out after his midweek exertions with Wales, the 24-year-old is one of a host of midfielders battling for a staring berth.
"Of course we know we've got to play well to get picked. Jack played in midweek and we know his situation [coming back from injury] so he was rested. Henri came in and impressed and obviously Bents came on and showed little glimpses of what he's about.
"We just need to keep winning. If we can get on a roll and win, win, win then everything gets a bit easier."
Tejlor mu namestio na tacnu. 
