'Unbelievable' Collison delights Zola

Gianfranco Zola watched Manchester City's expensively assembled team slump to defeat against his industrious West Ham side, and then hailed his homegrown match-winner Jack Collison for making it happen.

Hammers teenager Collison scored the only goal of Sunday's Barclays Premier League meeting, with a neatly-taken volley following up Savio's parried effort.

"Jack is unbelievable - he's getting better and better," said the Italian, whose team now lie seventh. "He's 19 and he's playing nearly every week. He's got a very good attitude and he's going to get better and better."

He added: "That is the beauty of football. Sometimes if you have passion and if you have belief you can be successful, and I think Jack Collison is an example of all of that."

Collison is a left-sided player by choice but excelled on the right, and Zola insists versatility is a big part of his game.

"I feel very lucky to have him - not only him but other players," he added. "That's why I like the attitude here. I can play them in different positions.

"As long as you know how to play football, you can still produce and be important for the team. I'm sure I could play Jack Collison up front or right at the back, and he could still produce good results for the team."

Collison himself was eager to spread the praise, insisting his winning goal would not have been possible without the hard work of others.

"I'm delighted with the goal, but it was a real team display," he said. "We were buzzing after the game. I think we worked really hard as a team to close them down and we kept a clean sheet. If you do that you've got a great chance to win games.

"I felt all the boys were superb. A few were struggling with little knocks towards the end but they played through and did really well."