Soccer:West Ham have confirmed defender Joey O'Brien has signed a new contract to keep him at the club until 2016. The Republic of Ireland international played under Sam Allardyce at Bolton and was brought to Upton Park by the Hammers boss in 2011.

The club announced on their Twitter feed: “West Ham United are pleased to announce that Joey O’Brien has signed a new contract with the club until summer 2016.”

O’Brien missed yesterday’s defeat at Sunderland, after which Allardyce signalled his intention to launch an emergency recruitment drive for defenders after seeing his injury-hit side run ragged. The Hammers slipped to a 3- defeat at the Stadium of Light with James Collins limping off in agony with a grade three hamstring tear to join George McCartney and O’Brien on the sidelines.

Allardyce clinched a six-month loan deal for Brazilian striker Wellington Paulista on Friday, but will now turn his attention to his back-four after seeing his patched-up rearguard succumb alarmingly on Wearside. He said: “The big blow for me is not having enough defenders at the moment. There are too many of my defenders injured.

“We have had too many injuries recently, but the injury situation with defenders with George McCartney not being here, Joey O’Brien not being here and James Collins getting injured today means that the defensive side of our team is particularly weak and short of numbers now.

“I am really going to have to go and try to strengthen that area in the next few days.”