Thank God For Scott Parker!

As if scripted, when West Ham was looking for a leader to haul them back into Premiership survival, Scott Parker duly obliged. In every sense, Parker was the the only West Ham player you would not wished to suffer the agony of relegation. So immense were his heart and commitment to stave off relegation.

So it was fitting that he should score a 25-yard screamer that guaranteed West Ham Premiership safety and allow Gold and Sullivan to rebuild the entire squad. If it was scored by Steven Gerrard or Frank Lampard, it would have been billed as the goal of the season but since it's the unfashionable, no frills midfielder Scott Parker, it hasn't garnered as much publicity as it should.

There are many parties to thank for Scotty Parker's goal,

Scott Parker himself, obviously for getting into position for the shot

Guille Franco for that intelligently cushioned header
Da Costa for lofting the ball to Franco

Tim Cahill for drawing the foul that kept Parker out for two games hence keeping him fresh for Wigan

Others on the Thank-you list are,

Alan Curbishley for nurturing Parker at Charlton and then bringing him in from Newcastle

Glenn Roeder for selling him to West Ham

Jose Mourinho for selling him to Newcastle

England for continuously ignoring Scott Parker's genuine claims for international caps

McDonald's for discovering Scott Parker as a 13-year old keepie-uppie prodigy 

And lastly,

Thank God that Scott Parker has the heart of a Hammer!

Scott Parker (whoa),
Scott Parker (whoa),
He came from Newcastle,
He's better than Lionel (Messi)

Here's a video of Scott Parker's match winning goal against Wigan. Straight out of the "Oh You Beauty!" vault of Steven Gerrard. I almost forgotten that Scott Parker has a fearsome long range shot in him.

Tony Pulis said this in his backing of Zola after Stoke's 1-0 win over the Hammers,

"He (Zola) needs the players to roll their sleeves up and he needs some luck. In the Premier League if you string two or three wins together you shoot up the table."

So Zola had the players or at least Scott Parker and Mark Noble rolling up their sleeves. He's also had the luck, considering that we won in games where we hadn't played well in. And now we look forward to an end of season flourish with subsequent wins over a weary Fulham and an erratic Manchester City propelling us up the league table, putting a gloss over what has been a thoroughly stressful season.

Come On You Irons!