West Ham United's Andy Carroll (left) and Tottenham Hotspur's Michael Dawson fight for the ball

Hammers loan star Andy Carroll broke his West Ham duck at Spurs on Saturday, now he is on the hunt for more goals

It took nine games in claret and blue, a total of 684 minutes of play, that’s nearly 11 and a half hours, but West Ham’s on loan striker Andy Carroll finally hit the net on Sunday!

No surprise then when his first words after the game were: “It was about time, to be honest.”

It certainly was, but no-one can deny the enormous contribution the Liverpool striker has made on the team since Brendan Rodgers inexplicably allowed him to leave Anfield on a temporary basis.

He may not have hit the net with the regularity he would have liked, but he has brought others into goalscoring positions, not least his captain and great friend Kevin Nolan, who was instrumental in bringing Carroll to the Capital back in August.

West Ham were already 3-0 down at White Hart Lane when Carroll struck what turned out to be a mere consolation goal.

On 82 minutes, Joey O’Brien stood a cross up in the penalty area and Carroll rose to head the ball into the far corner to get his Hammers scoring career underway at last.

“It was a great ball in by Joey O’Brien and I just had to get up and head it across the keeper,” said the 23-year-old.

It can’t be easy being Andy Carroll. He seems to be a constant source of media attention and the longer he went without scoring, the more intense the scrutiny became, even though his actually performances has been good.

“I’m just grateful to have got off the mark and hopefully there will be more to come this week,” said Carroll, who has been pleased with his displays so far.

“I think I’ve put myself about and been involved in our goals. I think I’ve been doing well so it was about time one went in.”

Carroll’s goal was one of the few highlights of a miserable afternoon for West Ham as they crashed to a 3-1 defeat and the striker was certainly downcast after the game.

“It was disappointing as we made mistakes for all three of their goals really,” he said. “We should have done better, but they have taken their chances and beaten us.

“Coming here we were up against a great team and they showed that with their passing, rhythm and pace.”

After scoring against Spurs, Carroll now faces the daunting task of trying to emulate that against Manchester United tonight (Wednesday) and then Chelsea on Saturday.

“We have got a tough week with Man United and then Chelsea and Liverpool,” said Carroll. “It will be tough, but the big games are what everyone looks forward to, so we just have to put the Tottenham game behind us now and focus on Wednesday.”