West Ham assistant boss Steve Clarke has slammed rival manager Steve Bruce for accusing Herita Ilunga of "play-acting" in the Hammers' draw with Sunderland at the weekend.

The Congolese defender was pushed to the ground by Kenwyne Jones in the first half of Saturday's 2-2 draw at the Stadium of Light, leading to the Sunderland striker being shown a red card.

Sunderland boss Bruce criticised Ilunga's reaction to the shove, claiming it "left a lot to be desired", and also added it was a "ploy" by the Hammers medical staff to run onto the pitch and make the most of the incident by applying ice-packs to the player's face.

Clarke spoke out in defence of Ilunga - and told Bruce he should keep his opinions of opposition players to himself.

"I find it incredible that a player who was the victim is the person everyone is talking about," said Clarke, in reference to Ilunga, the former Toulouse left-back.

"Tell me what Ilunga did wrong? Someone pushed him in the face. He'd just recently recovered from a triple fracture to the jaw - maybe he thought there was a punch coming.

"It was wrong of Steve Bruce to comment on our players. I find it incredible we are here talking about our player, when he was the victim. This is wrong, it's completely wrong.

"There was no over-reaction; he has to protect himself. He's a big boy, Kenwyne Jones."

West Ham let slip a two-goal lead in against Sunderland - it was the sixth successive league game in which the Hammers have shipped at least two goals - and it leaves them second from bottom in the Barclays Premier League heading into Wednesday night's home clash against Aston Villa.

Gianfranco Zola's men have not won in the league since the opening day of the season, when they defeated promoted side Wolves, and could slip to the foot of the table beneath Portsmouth with a heavy defeat to Villa at Upton Park.

Clarke, though, believes his team will get their campaign back on track this week, with another home match - against Everton - in the offing this weekend.

"We are going to give the fans our first home win," the former Scotland and Chelsea full-back vowed.

"We are gong to give them the win they want. They have a good memory of the finish of the Arsenal game where we finished strongly (to draw 2-2 from 2-0 down).

"They are going to take us into those two matches and they are going to push us to the win that we need.

"It's important we get a win sooner rather than later so tomorrow night is a terrific chance for us."

As a former defender of some repute, Clarke knows his team cannot keep conceding goals at the rate they are.

"We have conceded 14 goals in the last six games - that's too many and we know that," he added.

"We are working as hard as we can to address that. Confidence is one of the reasons. If you aren't winning matches, confidence goes.

"You become over-anxious to win, and you can leave yourself a little bit open. Last year, we maybe didn't score as many goals as we should have done but we had a more solid foundation.

"You have to find the balance."

Zola will be without Radoslav Kovac, who serves a ban following his sending-off against Sunderland, but captain Scott Parker returns from suspension and will anchor the midfield.

West Ham have no other injury concerns, and Zola should continue with the combination of Guillermo Franco and Carlton Cole up front.

Franco scored his first goal for the club at the weekend, and Clarke can see more coming the Mexico striker's way.

"He's new to English football but he's settled in pretty quickly," said Clarke.

"That goal will give him a boost. I think his partnership with Carlton is already showing signs of promise, which is good for us."