Centurion Rob is happy with a clean sheet

GOALKEEPER Robert Green celebrated his 100th appearance in claret and blue with a battling clean sheet against Manchester City on Sunday and confessed that the team had given their all out there.

"It was a good win for us," said the 29-year-old. "I'm pleased with the result, pleased with the clean sheet and pleased with the performance - it was a good day for us all."

Having scored just three goals in the last six games in all competitions, the pressure is on the defence and Green himself to keep as many clean sheets as possible, something he felt they did well against Robinho, Craig Bellamy and co on Sunday.

"We're not scoring an abundance of goals, so to keep a clean sheet is always handy," said the England international, who has managed eight shut-outs this season.

"It was particularly pleasing for all the lads in the defence and for everyone, because they worked so hard in the game. The lads are dragging themselves off at the end of the match."

The victory lifted the Hammers into seventh spot in the Premier League and a possible European place next season and Green, as well as his manager Gianfranco Zola, are keen to keep battling towards that goal despite their shaky recent form.

"When you don't win for a few games it's easy to look over your shoulder, but the manager is insisting we look forwards," said Green.

"We were looking at seventh place before today's game and now we can look forward to the Wigan match.

"It'll be a good game, hopefully, a tight one. It's one of those games where you are playing someone around yourself and you're looking to get a good win.

"I think if we apply ourselves like we did against City then we'll definitely come out with a positive result, but Wigan have done fantastically well, they were unlucky against Chelsea and they will be a tough test.