West Ham United midfielder Mark Noble had no issues playing in their stalemate with Blackpool.
The gutsy midfielder put his body on the line with a non-stop 90 minutes 12 days after an emergency op to remove his appendix.
Noble is a rarity in the Premier League. A local lad who plays for a club he supported as a kid. His hero was ex-Hammer Joe Cole.
A plain-talking Eastender, 23, who sums up the deep-rooted problems at Upton Park and symbolises what West Ham need to dig themselves out of trouble.
He said: "I'm OK. I'm not getting any pain from the surgery. I thought I had food poisoning.
"I got to the training ground and waited for the doctor to do a test on me. He pressed where my appendix is and let it go sharp. It was very painful, I was in agony.
"He said we had to go to the hospital right away, chucked me in his car and I was on a drip within two hours in a bed, getting ready for an op. Afterwards the surgeon said my appendix was a couple of times the size it should've been. They found poison around the area and it was within hours of bursting.
"The plan was for me to train next Thursday before the Liverpool game. It came to this Thursday and I felt fine and said I wanted to try and train. I trained, felt OK and then I played today. Once the adrenalin kicks in you tend to forget about any problems.
"Obviously it hurts that we did not win. Every time you don't get three points, it ruins your week. A club like this, with the players we have, shouldn't be in this position but we are.
"We must turn it around. Something has to be done about this club as it's too good to be going through this."
