By: Tom Williams

Next came the League Cup final, against the Mackems. Both my full-backs, and my second 'keeper were cup-tied, so the two Pearces both returned to the first XI. Stephen Bywater took Tyler's place on the bench, and Scott Severin returned to replace the injured Diawara in the forward line. A classy goal opened the match, as Severin's flick released Di Canio, who in turn went past two defenders and finshed beautifully. Freddie Kanoute scored a second within ten minutes, this time going much more directly on the counter-attack. Sunderland got one back before half-time through Michael Gray and the score stayed at 2-1 until the final whistle, despite spirited attacking by both sides after the break. My team returned to its more usual appearance for the home game against Leeds, although both Kanoute and Cole missed out through a lack of match-fitness. This did not prove to be a problem, however, as Suker scored within five minutes of his return from injury, and Di Canio added a hat-trick. Darren Huckerby scored Leeds' only goal of the match mid-way through the second half.

The player of the year awards were announced a few days before my next fixture, the FA Cup Semi-final against Man City. West Ham players copmpleted a 1-2-3 in the senior awards, with Suker narrowly beating Di Canio and my skipper, Stimac, into second and third places respectively. Michael Carrick picked up the young player of the year award. In addition, five Hammers were named in the Premier Division select XI for the season. Grainger was once again cup-tied for the game against City, but Melchiot and Tyler were both back. Margas missed out, despite great performances in his last two games, due to exhaustion, so Ferdinand returned to defence, Severin returned to midfield, and Kanoute was fit enough to play up front. We started off slowly and Man City punished us within half-an-hour, Mark Taylor scoring after Hislop had parried Spencer Prior's shot. This sparked the Hammers into action, but the forwards could find no way past the brilliant England U21 goalie, Nicky Weaver, until the 58th minute when Suker, perhaps inspired by his recent award, scored from a great move orchestrated by Severin. The Croatian added another four minutes later, and the game ended 2-1, ensuring that West Ham would contest another final, this time against Watford, who had dismissed four Premiership clubs - Bradford, Liverpool, Newcastle and, in the semi-final, Leicester City - to get to the Millenium Stadium for the biggest match of their season.

I still had several matches left in the league before that match, however, beginning with a home match against Southampton. I only made two changes to the team that beat Man City, with Grainger available once again, and Lomas returning to allow Severin a rest after his outstanding performance. In contrast to the 5-2 away win at the Dell in November, the defending in this match was of top quality on both sides, with my captain Stimac one of the outstanding players.  The scores were level at 0-0 as we went into the interval, but my half-time speech stirred the players and they came out for the second half with an attacking mindset. The deadlock was broken when the player of the year, Suker, set up the young player of the year, Carrick, ten minutes after the break. Twenty minutes later Suker himself got the second of the match, and his thirtieth goal of the season. This wrapped up a 2-0 victory for the side in claret and blue.

We only had a three-day break before our league match at Portman Road. Our two matches so far this season against the Tractor Boys had resulted in score draws at the end of ninety minutes. I was praying that this one would result in an away win, otherwise Chelsea could leapfrog us at the top of the table. To prevent the kind of sloppy defending that had characterised our two previous meetings, I changed to a more defensive team, with Kanoute replaced by the returning Severin up front, and Ferdinand moving to the centre of midfield. The England international's place in the back four was taken by Margas. In addition, I had one changed forced upon me as Marc Keller returned to replace a tired Joe Cole. The move to place Severin up front paid off almost immediately, as he headed in a goal within ten minutes. Unfortunately, Reuser took Ipswixh top level pegging again soon after. Suker restored our lead with a 20-yard free kick quarter of an hour after half-time, but picked up a slight injury soon after that required him to be substituted. Nevertheless, a Hammers win was the result which kept us on the top of the table, but only by goal difference from Chelsea.

The only change to the team for my match at home to Spurs was the return of Cole in midfield. Severin opened the scoring from the penalty spot, after Di Canio was brought down in the area. The young welshman Simon Davies grabbed an equaliser five minutes before half-time, and the final result was 1-1, although man-of-the-match Severin thought he had another goal in the second half, only to see it ruled out for offside. The performance, against a side of Lilywhites who had been going down the table consistently for several months, was a little below-par, but Chelsea also drew so my position at the top of the League was still solid.

My next match was Manchester City, away. Only one change from the match in North London, Carrick being to tired to play and therefore giving his place to Keller. My other young attacking midfielder, Joe Cole, played and scored the only goal in a 1-0 win. Carrick returned a week later to face Liverpool at home. An injury-ravaged Reds side had little chance, even once Melchiot picked up an injury halfway through the first period. Severin opened the scoring from the penalty spot, his sixth converted penalty of the season, after Carrick was fouled five minutes before halftime. Cole got another goal after 68 minutes to give us a two-goal lead. Redknapp snatched a consolation for Liverpool at the death, but the win was ours. And, best of all, Chelsea could only draw so, with just two games to go, the Hammers led the table by two points.

For my final league game before the FA Cup final, the only change to the team for the trip up to Tyneside was forced by the injury to Melchiot giving Ian Pearce another start. Cole opened the scoring, but former Hammer Trevor Sinclair equalised for the Magpies. Man-of-the-match Sinclair was obviously out to prove a point, which he did as his goal held us to a draw, but I still had no regrets about selling him as it had allowed me to sign the young Severin who had bags of potential. The draw left me level on points with Chelsea, but ahead on goal difference, and simply equalling the Chelsea result on the final day would crown West Ham champions of England for the first time in their history. For the FA Cup final (against Watford), Ferdinand was dropped after a string of mediocre performances from the England international. Severin moved back to central midfield, and the fit-again Diawara returned up front. Grainger was cup-tied, so Stuart Pearce returned. Melchiot was not risked, despite having been in light training for several days and having been passed fit by my physio John Green. Di Canio opened the scoring in the Millenium Stadium within ten minutes, and Joe Cole soon added a second. When Neil Cox was sent off just two minutes later, Watford lost all chance of winning the cup. They would have lost by a rugby score had it not been for a stunning performance by their goalie, Martin Taylor, who saved eight shots from my players. The second cup of the season was now safely in our hands, and we were just one game away from a treble crown of League, League Cup and FA Cup.

For that game, at home to Bradford, I had no fitness or suspension worries, and I could pick what I considered to be my best team. For the duration of the match, my team in the dugout kept me informed of developments in the Chelsea v Liverpool match. As early as the third minute, news came through that Fowler had scored for the Reds. That relieved a little of the pressure on us, and six minutes later Joe Cole scored with a great finish to alleviate the tension even more. Another six minutes, and Cole turned provider as his colleague Carrick doubled the advantage. The scores stayed the same come half-time, and my team talk simply consisted of telling the players not to relax to much, and to stay focused. I didn't tell them the Chelsea scoreline, to insure against complacency. The second half was something of an anti-climax, as we wanted to make sure that we stayed solid and didn't throw it away. As the final whistle blew, the fans around the ground went wild. Stimac, for the third time this season, picked up a trophy, and the 24,000 - odd crowd could have been 100,000 for all the noise that echoed around the ground. All in all, a successful season, by any standards.

But I soon had to start preparing for next season. The prize money from the tournaments that we had won, plus money for the sale of Lomas for ú7.5M at the end of the season, meant that I had a large selection of players to choose from. In addition, I was attempting to offload the young, homesick, France international Kanoute. I wanted another left-back (Stuart Pearce was out-of-contract), another centre-half, another central midfielder (or two) and I needed to make Diawara's loan move permanent.