West Ham assistant coach Alan Irvine praised Ben Johnson for a great performance against Doncaster Rovers this afternoon.

Irvine admitted that Johnson struggled a great deal in the pre-season against Bournemouth.

He explained that the player wants to improve and is the kind of person who comes in and analyses his own performances.

The West Ham coaches sit with him on a one-to-one basis and talk through his game.

Irvine admitted he personally spoke to Johnson yesterday about the importance of the FA Cup game for him and was pleased at just how strong he showed himself to be mentally. He was pleased he had put Bournemouth behind him and returned in style and continues to improve.i

The assistant manager has no doubt with that attitude the player will keep on improving.

He said: “I think he struggled a great deal in that game against Bournemouth. One thing about Ben is he wants to improve. He is a lad who will come in and analyse his performances, we sit with him on a one-to-one basis and talk through these things.

Just yesterday I spoke to him about the importance of today’s game for him and he has shown just how strong he is mentally to be able to learn from that game against Bournemouth and continue to improve. I think with the attitude the lad has he will keep on improving.”

Given that the youngster was playing out of position on the left of the back four he produced a performance of which he could be justifiably proud in the absence of Aaron Cresswell who was rested ahead of the game against Palace.”