WEST HAM midfielder Jack Collison has vowed to start pulling his weight in the goal department, although he may be better served putting a few shifts in at the back after the Hammers blew a commanding lead against Hull City last week.

Not for the first time this season West Ham were guilty of letting a two-goal lead slip against the Tigers of Hull, to the point that they went into half-time trailing, before Manuel Da Costa popped up to rescue a valuable point.

Gianfranco Zola’s side appeared to have established a vice-like grip on the game on Saturday, as first Guillermo Franco headed in Junior Stanislas’ corner, before Collison scored his first goal of the campaign with a looping header to make it 2-0 with just 11 minutes gone.

However, a deflected free-kick, a close-range volley and a dubious penalty later and the Irons’ clasp had loosened sufficiently to allow the hosts to wriggle free.

Last month, West Ham let Sunderland off the hook as they fought back from the same deficit to claim an unlikely draw.

It is becoming a worrying pattern for Zola, who has not seen his team keep a clean sheet since a goalless draw at Blackburn at the end of August.

However, Collison was unconcerned after the game: “We feel we’ve got good players and we feel we are doing the right things, but it is just the case of some mistakes creeping in. It is hard to put your finger on it, but I’m sure the points are going to start coming, because we are playing some nice stuff.”

Goals appear to be coming thick and fast at both ends for the Hammers, but Collison has made it his business to start chipping in after being encouraged by Zola and assistant manager Steve Clarke to find more attacking positions.

“It is something I’m trying to add to my game, I need to score more goals,” said the Wales international. “Clarkey’s been getting into me a bit and hopefully I can get a few more now before the end of the season.

“They (Zola and Clarke) have told me to get in the box more. I feel and the management feel that I need to be doing more for the team going forward. I’ve been working hard in training at trying to improve on that.”

Collison’s compatriot Danny Gabbidon, who made his first appearance for West Ham since September at left-back on Saturday, was critical of his side’s defending and highlighted the need for improvement.

“We need to start keeping clean sheets. We have had only two all season and I can’t really remember the last clean sheet we had,” said the defender. “We are scoring goals and to score three away from home and not win the game is very disappointing from our point of view. The minute we start defending better as a team then that is when the results will start coming.”