West Ham chief Alan Curbishley is confident the real Dean Ashton will stand up - but he has urged Hammers fans to be patient with him.Ashton has struggled to rediscover top form this season after missing the whole of last year with a broken ankle, suffered on the eve of his prospective England debut.

Ashton has scored six goals in 22 appearances for the Hammers this season but he lacks sharpness and has only completed a full 90 minutes on 10 occasions.

Curbishley believes Ashton needs time to fully escape the shadow of his career-threatening injury - but he also needs chances.

West Ham have been short on attacking ideas this season with the likes of Kieron Dyer and Craig Bellamy out with long-term injuries.

And Curbishley has demanded West Ham show more invention in the closing weeks of the season if Ashton is to flourish and the club are to challenge for a UEFA Cup place.

"Dean had a big injury which kept him out for a year. Everyone wants everything now and sometimes when you have had that lay-off it is not always so easy," said Curbishley. "But we know what we have got in Dean Ashton. It is just a question of him plugging on, working at it hard in training and the sharpness has got to come back.

"As a team we haven't been playing so well, we haven't created too many chances or scored too many goals ourselves and it has been difficult for the boys up front.

"The midfield and the front boys have got to start contributing.

"The back five have done well but in the last four or five games we have not been prolific. We have got to ask them to contribute a bit more, and the same goes for Deano."

Ashton missed out on the chance to play with Carlos Tevez last season and it has been another frustrating campaign for him, despite seeing regular action.

In pre-season, Ashton had an eye on helping England qualify for Euro 2008 and would have expected to be the fulcrum of an attacking quartet at West Ham that included Bellamy, Dyer, Julien Faubert and Scott Parker.

None of it has come to fruition.

"They are big players and Ashton was looking at that thinking: 'That ain't bad. If we can get going, I can be a part of that'. But those four have played 14 games between them," said Curbishley.

Ashton has also been asked to form an unnatural striker partnership with Carlton Cole and they have not struck upon the right formula with any consistency.

The presence of two physical strikers has also affected the way West Ham play and goes the footballing traditions of the club.

"They are very similar in their attributes - both attacking the same ball - and perhaps they haven't been that compatible," said Curbishley

"My big complaint after the Birmingham draw was that when we weren't winning with 25 minutes to go we started to panic and it was one touch and then the long ball forward. That wasn't us."

Curbishley's strike options are set to improve next week.

Bobby Zamora, who has been out with a hamstring injury since August, has come through three reserve team games and wants one more, on Monday night, before returning to first-team contention.

But the Hammers will be without Bellamy for at least another six weeks after the Wales captain underwent a second operation on his persistent abdominal injury.

Bellamy has struggled with the problem all season and has made just seven league starts for the Hammers since his £7.5million summer switch from Liverpool.

He returned to action off the bench in West Ham's defeat at Wigan three weeks ago but was not right and medics decided surgery was the only option.

Bellamy took advantage of the enforced operation to also undergo a

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