SCOTT Parker couldn't hide his delight after scoring his first West Ham goal - but admitted he had to curb his celebration somewhat so that he didn't also get his marching orders.

The midfielder capped an energetic display with a classy last gasp strike to earn the Hammers a hard-fought win over Middlesbrough on Saturday.

But he couldn't get too carried away with his celebration after collecting a first half booking for a late tackle.

He said: "I had to be a bit careful because I'd already been booked and I went over and all of a sudden realised if I got pushed in I might get another booking and got sent off.

"There was a lot of emotion there.

"Obviously it's very pleasing to score - I'm over the moon.

"It's a goal that means a lot in terms of three points and a good away win."

The goal marked the 27-year-old's return to fitness and went some way to easing the frustrations of an injury-blighted start to his West Ham career.

The former Charlton and Chelsea star has made just eight starts following a £7 million summer switch from Newcastle - but Saturday's game was the fifth 90 minutes he had completed in succession.

"I feel like I'm getting there now," he said.

"It's hard when you've been out for a long while and I missed a lot of pre-season.

"I felt last weekend that I was getting to where I needed to be and there were times out there (against Middlesbrough) when it was a battle.

"The best of me is still to come and with games I'm certainly going to get there."

Parker also insists that he is more interested in returning to top form for the West Ham fans, as opposed to impressing new England boss Fabio Capello to add to his three England caps.

He said: "My main focus is West Ham and I feel very disappointed that I've missed out on a large part of the start of the season through injury.

"I just want to repay the chairman and the manager for putting faith in me and signing me. West Ham is my main aim I've not thought about England for one second."

He added: "Anything that has success builds slowly and instant success is very rare.

"You've probably only seen it at a few clubs where there is a lot of money being splashed about.

"We need stability which I'm sure we're going to have.

"We need to build a team and everything else that comes with that - the foundations to push on and become a big force in the league."