West Ham midfielder Henri Lansbury says that he got the vital touch to the Hammers fifth goal at Upton Park on Saturday

West Ham striker Carlton Cole may have been celebrating the fifth goal against Brighton at Upton Park on Saturday, but it may well be that the strike will go into a different player’s scoring column.

Cole cut in from the left, got into the box and let fly with a thumping shot, but it did appear to be heading wide before it hit Henri Lansbury’s heel and ricocheted into the net to pile on the misery for the Seagulls.

It was Cole who was celebrating what would have been his 12th goal of the season, but the West Ham loan star, has other ideas.

“I think if you look at it, it is my goal,” said the 21-year-old Arsenal midfielder with a smile, “So sorry, ‘Coley’. He played very well today, held the play up well.”

Disappointing

It was Lansbury’s first start since the disappointing home draw against Doncaster Rovers, but he followed on from last Monday’s stirring second-half display against Birmingham to put in his best performance since his West Ham debut back in September .

That day, he scored in the win against Portsmouth and he came close after just 30 seconds on Saturday with a deflected shot that hit the crossbar.

“I was hoping that it would dip in,” said Lansbury. “But what is important is that the lads did well and obviously Vaz has had a great game and hit a great strike that the keeper couldn’t do much about.”

So has Lansbury seen that sort of potent shooting from Vaz Te on the training ground?

“Yeah, he hit a few of those shots in training,” confirmed the midfield man, “and they obviously went wide!

“He has done it today and it has gone in. The gaffer calls them moon shots, but they went in the net. I don’t think he knows what is going to happen, but he is a great player.”

It has sometimes been a frustrating time for Lansbury at Upton Park.

After a whirlwind start, he suffered an injury and on returning he did not seem to have the spark that the fans had taken to on his arrival.

Now though, he is beginning to show his worth again.

“It was good to be back, although my legs were gone after 45 minutes,” smiled Lansbury. “It has been hard to get back into the team and I have had to just keep training hard and looking after myself to keep fit and then take my chance.”

He certainly has done that in the last two appearances and could have won penalties in both, now he will look to keep that place and maybe get on the scoresheet as he looks to help West Ham back towards the Premier League, just as he did with Norwich City last season.