Anton Ferdinand has hailed his West Ham team-mate and defensive partner Elliott Ward.

Alan Pardew's men went on an impressive run of just one defeat in 13 games to gain promotion to the Premiership, and the two centre-backs have been identified as a major factor in that achievement.

Ferdinand told the club's official website: "Wardy did fantastically well. Right from his first game he settled in really quickly and made the position his own.

"He was injured a lot last season and didn't play a lot of football. But he took his chance, and that's what football is all about.

"Wardy has always been a good player, and once he got a good run in the first-team he really started to show people what he can do.

"I think he probably surprised a lot of people, but I've been playing with him since the youth teams and I knew what he could do."