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ALAN Curbishley has lavished praise on ex-West Ham skipper Nigel Reo-Coker.

The Aston Villa midfielder (pictured) was singled out by the Irons fans for the team's slump in form last season which ultimately led to the sacking of then-manager Alan Pardew.

He later fuelled that by slapping in a transfer request prior to a £7.5million move to Villa Park. He was soon followed to the Midlands by another ex-Hammer, Marlon Harewood.

As such, Reo-Coker is likely to get a tough reception when he returns to Upton Park for the first time on Sunday.

However, Irons boss Curbishley reckons that 23-year-old played a key role in helping the club escape relegation on the last day of last season.

"I walked into something when I joined. There was a lot of feeling around the club," said Curbishley.

"We were third-from-bottom and there was a lot of flak flying around and he was getting singled out for some of it.

"We had a chat about it and I told him the only way he could deal with it was to get on with it.

"Obviously he wasn't happy about it but I told him to get through to the end of the season because the club is more important than anything else."

Curbishley even put Reo-Coker's influence up there with that of Robert Green, Carlos Tevez and Mark Noble, who supporters recognise as the catalysts behind the club beating the drop.

"I thought in the second half of the season, from the Manchester United game where he got the winner, his performances in the run-in were up there with the contributions the others made," explained Curbishley.

"Green had a fantastic run-in, Anton Ferdinand and James Collins did fantastically well, as did Mark Noble, Bobby Zamora and Tevez. He was part of that.

"I think in the run-in he got back to where he should have been. I was delighted with his performances."

Reo-Coker can still expect to be given a hard time by the home crowd on Sunday and Curbishley added: "I think that's part and parcel of football now.

"Some clubs react differently when old players go back. I'm sure him and Marlon Harewood will just get on with it."

6:22pm Friday 9th May 2008

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