West Ham goalkeeper Robert Green denied Tottenham for the second time this season with a superb performance at White Hart Lane on Saturday.

Back in September, it was the heroics of Robert Green that earned West Ham their first victory of the season when they deservedly beat Spurs 1-0 at White Hart Lane.

The highlight came when Luka Modric’s shot was tipped on to the crossbar by Green to help keep Tottenham at bay.

And the England goalkeeper was at it again on Saturday in the return match as he saved magnificently from Gareth Bale’s free kick, pushing it once more against the crossbar to help the Hammers to a magnificent 0-0 draw.

At the end of that September game, Green made a gesture to watching journalists, castigating them for the treatment both he and his family suffered in print following his World Cup howler against the United States.

Since that day in June, the 31-year-old goalkeeper has not spoken to any member of the press, not even West Ham’s official website, but instead he is doing his talking on the field.

Saturday’s was his seventh clean sheet of the season – a far cry from the 12 he conceded in four games during the dark days at the beginning of the Premier League season.

As West Ham have improved, especially in defence, so Green’s confidence has strengthened and he passed a serious examination of both his shot-stopping skills and his temperament at White Hart Lane on Saturday.

Captain Matty Upson was full of praise for his goalkeeper and especially the save from Bale with four minutes to go that kept them out.

“He made a couple of outstanding saves,” said the skipper after the match. “The one from the free kick, I just don’t know how he has got there.

“To get enough of a hand on it to push it on to the bar was fantastic.”

It was, perhaps the save of the season by the goalkeeper.

He is back in the England squad, though he has lost his starting place to Joe Hart, he is also now spared the ridicule that he suffered in the opening months of the season as memories fade of that afternoon in South Africa.

The whole thing has obviously affected the player deeply, but slowly, but surely, he has got over his troubles and that can only be good for West Ham and their survival hopes.