ROBERT Green has pleaded with West Ham's fans to be patient with the Irons during their final three games of the season.

The Hammers look set to secure a top-half finish for the second time in three years, despite manager Alan Curbishley being hindered by a seemingly never-ending injury crisis.

However, that is not good enough for the supporters who greeted Saturday's 2-1 home win over relegated Derby County with a chorus of boos and jeers.

The reaction shocked Green, but the goalkeeper admitted it was not the first time he had experienced it during his career.

"I've had it a couple of times before. At Norwich we scored the winner in the 94th minute against Dagenham and Redbridge in the FA Cup (in January 2004) and got booed off," he re-called.

"It's part and parcel of football. It is just the expectation on us really."

Green admitted that the supporters' anger came after failing to see their side sweep aside a Rams outfit who had been thrashed at home by Aston Villa the previous Saturday - the same day West Ham lost 1-0 at struggling Bolton Wanderers.

"The overall picture is that people see the Bolton game and the Derby result from losing 6-0 against Aston Villa and expect the same today.

"But the week before they got beat 1-0 at Everton - it's kind of good game, bad game.

"They played well in the second half today, they really came at us and gave it a real go."

And Derby's improvement, Green pointed out, came on a day when Curbishley welcomed no fewer than five players back from injury.

"The performance wasn't great, don't get me wrong, but what you'd appreciate is some understanding that we're not playing the best we can play.

"We've got a lot of guys who have been out the side and come back in again.

"Obviously the confidence isn't going to be sky high."

Green also instructed the fans to remember where their club was a year ago, when only seven wins in their last nine games and a final-day victory at Manchester United kept the Hammers in the Premier League.

"It' s not an ideal situation but if you compare it to 12 months ago, it's a big step in the right direction," he added.

>WEST Ham reserves lost 2-0 at Arsenal on Tuesday evening to complete their season and end their chance of lifting the Premier Reserve League South title, which is now likely to go to Aston Villa.