It may have been a scuffed shot that went through Ben Foster’s legs, but every goal counts for Carlton Cole.

IT COULD prove to be the most-important goal in his West Ham career and for Carlton Cole it didn’t matter one little bit that he went through two sets of legs and barely trickled over the line.

“I’m chuffed to have scored the winning goal,” said the 27-year-old supersub after his scuffed shot gave the Hammers a 2-1 first leg lead in their Carling Cup semi-final clash, despite being reduced to 10 men.

“I hope we can go over to their place and capitalise on this win, because it would be good for the fans and good for us mentally and may help us to get out of the trouble we find ourselves in in the league,” said Cole.

Cole came on for the last 17 minutes of Tuesday’s night’s game, but he still had to work hard, defending from the front.

“We showed great spirit and worked hard with 10 men and we got our reward,” insisted Cole, who will be hungry to start at St Andrews in the second leg, where he put in one of his best displays earlier in the season.

Cole’s goal has fired West Ham closer to Wembley and the striker will be desperate to get there, especially as his experiences of the stadium so far have not been too impressive.

“I have played at Wembley a couple of times for England and I managed to get injured once and I haven’t scored there yet,” he confirmed. “Hopefully I can get back there with my club and represent us in an honourable fashion in the final.”