Green is at pains to show Fabio he's best

If bravery alone was enough to earn goalkeeper Robert Green an England cap, his name would already be on Fabio Capello's team-sheet.

The West Ham stopper was outstanding again last night as a weakened West Ham team, watched by the national team manager, battled to a 0-0 draw against the Premier League's bottom club, West Brom.

Capello has a friendly with Slovakia on 28 March before the Ukraine arrive at Wembley for the World Cup qualifier on April Fools' Day.

Green did enough to show that he would not embarrass himself on the bigger stage and that he should be given the chance to add to his two caps.

The No1 showed his resilience by keeping a clean sheet despite being laid out by Jonas Olsson's elbow in the second half, with the ball rebounding from the crossbar.

"He caught me in the jaw and I bit through my tongue which was pretty painful," said Green. "I spent the last half an hour with my head spinning and with bits of my tongue falling off in my mouth but such is life.

"I felt someone's elbow and having seen the replays I am just thankful it was on the sturdier part of my face rather than the eye or nose."

The Football Association will look closely at the challenge if referee Mark Halsey confirms he missed the incident for which he took no action.

Green held West Ham together on a night they were without several first-team players. Hammers owner and chairman Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson witnessed at first hand how painfully thin the squad now is, as he watched on from the directors' box.

Shorn of long-term injury victims Valon Behrami and Jack Collison and with Carlton Cole suspended, manager Gianfranco Zola was forced to partner David Di Michele with Freddie Sears up front and give teenager Savio his first start.

Zola took a calculated gamble by letting eight players go during the January transfer window which avoided the necessity of selling a big-name star but a sudden crop of injuries has left him with the cupboard almost bare.

"Our team against West Brom hasn't had much playing time together," said Green. "We were still solid at the back where the lads have played together and know each other's games but attacking-wise, we didn't create too much because they loaded the midfield.

"We weren't going to play it up to the front men in the air but maybe if David Di Michele had climbed on Sears' shoulders we may have had a chance. But we've had three games without conceding and we're looking fairly solid."

And if that wasn't enough, Zola also lost his England central defender Matthew Upson in the first half with a calf problem.

"The injury shouldn't be too bad," said a relieved Zola. "He had a problem with his calf before the match and it became worse.

"We tried to play differently because of the players we had missing but certainly we weren't the same team as we have been recently.

"Also, though, West Brom played a very good match. They are bottom of the table but they play good football."

Zola still has ambitions of his team finishing in seventh place in the final Premier League table and qualifying for Europe next year.

The task will, he conceded however, be more difficult with some of his main players missing.

"We do have a few problems with big players missing and obviously it's going to be harder than before but we're going to try," he said.

A section of the Upton Park crowd even booed the players off at the end of what was a disappointing match but Zola has no great issues with supporters venting their feelings.

"It's okay with me," he said. "We know the supporters are very demanding but it doesn't bother me too much and next time we will try to be better.

"They make me think harder and deeper to find solutions to play better.

"I would have to say it was a good point for us because of all the problems we had and because of the good performance of West Brom."

Cole, sent off against Wigan, will also be missing for next Saturday's match at Blackburn and Zola admitted: "We know how important Carlton is to this team but I have to deal with that."