ANDY Carroll hopes he can follow up his long awaited first West Ham goal by finding the net against Manchester United and Chelsea.

Carroll headed home Joey O’Brien’s cross in Sunday’s 3- 1 defeat at Tottenham to end his 1,062-minute Premier League goal drought.

The £35million former Newcastle man had been brought in on loan from Liverpool to provide the firepower for the Hammers, but manager Sam Allardyce has instead had to rely on Kevin Nolan for goals this season.

Carroll was relieved to finally get off the mark for his new club and now hopes he can repeat the feat against heavyweights Manchester United and Chelsea tomorrow and Saturday respectively.

‘‘It was about time (I scored), to be honest,’’ Carroll said. ‘‘I’m just grateful to have got off the mark and hopefully there will be more to come this week.

‘‘I think I’ve put myself about and been involved in our goals in previous matches.

I think I’ve been doing well so it was about time one went in.

‘‘It was a great ball in by Joey O’Brien and I just had to get up and head it across the keeper. That’s what I did and thankfully it went in.’’ Despite Carroll’s failure to find the net, West Ham have exceeded all expectations so far this season and currently sit eighth in the table.

But they were easily outclassed by a rampant Spurs side, who coasted to victory thanks to a Gareth Bale strike and a brace from former Hammer Jermain Defoe.

Defoe was allowed to open the scoring in a solo effort that saw him go unchallenged from near the half-way line.

West Ham’s defence then backed off Clint Dempsey, which allowed him to tee up Bale for Spurs’ second.

Defoe wrapped up the win by tapping home into an empty net following a swift counter-attack that started after West Ham were dispossessed on the halfway line.

Carroll was unhappy with how his team wilted but insisted they should not dwell too much on the defeat.

‘‘It was disappointing as we made mistakes for all three of their goals, really,’’ Carroll said. ‘‘We should have done better, but they have taken their chances and obviously beat us.

‘‘We have got a tough week with Manchester United and then Chelsea and Liverpool coming up.’’