WEST HAM youngster Jack Collison may not have a hint of a Welsh accent, but he knows a star of the Valleys when he sees one, writes DAVE EVANS. Ryan Giggs (left) rolled back the years to grab a stunning winner against Jack and his Hammers on Sunday and th

WEST HAM youngster Jack Collison may not have a hint of a Welsh accent, but he knows a star of the Valleys when he sees one, writes DAVE EVANS.

Ryan Giggs (left) rolled back the years to grab a stunning winner against Jack and his Hammers on Sunday and the midfielder could not help but admire the 35-year-old winger.

"He's not bad is he," said a tongue-in-cheek Collison.

"He's had such a great career, not just for Manchester United, but for Wales as well.

"He's a great role model for all kids to look up to and he took his goal so well and made it look easy."

Collison, 20, also had his moments in the game, darting into the penalty area when he could and not afraid to take people on.

He may not have reached the heights of Giggs yet, but if he can achieve half as much as the Manchester United star has, then he will have had a superb career.

"I think everyone grew up watching him and you've just got to admire a player like that," said Collison.

"I think it took something special to unlock us today and he found it."

Collison was certainly not out of place during Sunday's game and he felt that the team as a whole could have done even better in the last couple of weeks against the big guns.

"Obviously playing against Manchester United you know what to expect," he explained.

"They're champions of the world at the moment so we knew it was going to be a tough game, but looking back now, we're disappointed to be coming away with nothing."

He was right. Although West Ham lacked a little bit of urgency in the final third of the field, United didn't exactly put Rob Green and his goal under a lot of pressure during the match.

"Yeah, it was tight," he said. "We're quite a creative team and we knew we were going to create chances, but today we just couldn't convert them into goals."

Collison believes that ability is indicative of the improvement at the club in recent times.

"There wasn't a lot between the two teams," he insisted. "I think that shows how far we've come as a team as well.

"We were disappointed last week not to win the game at Arsenal and disappointed this week to come out with nothing against Manchester United, so I think that's credit to ourselves and how far we've come."

Giggs made his name in the Welsh national team at the age of 17, and though Collison's first full cap against Denmark last November came at the age of 20, he is hoping to make a similar impact.

Welsh boss John Toshack recently signed a new contract and Collison is happy to see him in charge.

"He's given a lot of the young players a chance, so it's good for someone like me looking to cement a place in the team."

If he continues this run of form, it looks like Collison will have cemented his place for West Ham and Wales for some time to come.