Rovers suffer late Hammer blows

Paul Ince endured a miserable return to former club West Ham as his Blackburn Rovers side were beaten 4-1 at Upton Park.

Calum Davenport and a Christopher Samba own goal had already ensured the win for the Hammers, before Craig Bellamy and Carlton Cole struck in injury time to render the visitors' strike from Jason Roberts - who also had a penalty saved - nothing but a consolation goal.

Rovers boss Ince - who began his career at West Ham before controversially moving to Manchester United in 1989 - always endured rough treatment from the Hammers' fans when he returned as a player, and it was no different on his first appearance as a manager at the Boleyn Ground, where he was booed everytime the ball went near him. On the pitch his fortunes weren't much better.

After sending in several tame set-pieces, midfielder Julien Faubert curled in his 12th-minute corner at pace and centre-back Davenport rose above two Blackburn defenders to head past the flailing Paul Robinson for his first goal in West Ham colours.

Alan Curbishley's side saw their lead doubled eight minutes later in controversial circumstances. As Mark Noble fired from outside the box Samba moved to try and hack the effort away because Dean Ashton was lurking behind him, albeit in an offside position. The Congolese defender only managed to swipe the shot into his own net however, and the goal stood due to the fact that Ashton had not touched the ball, despite his presence directly contributing to Samba's actions.

To their credit, Rovers' response was almost immediate, and striker Roberts got his side back in the game two minutes later when he latched onto Morten Gamst Pedersen's pass and his low shot on the turn went underneath goalkeeper Robert Green into the far bottom corner.

As Rovers pushed for an equaliser during the five minutes of second-half injury time, substitute Bellamy had plenty of time to line up and fire a fierce half-volley in for his first goal of the season.

Rovers' misery was compounded moments later when Swiss full-back Valon Behrami beat two men down the wing to cut a ball in for Scott Parker, who set up Cole with a simple tap-in.

Earlier, at 2-0, the resilience of Paul Ince's side was tested further when star striker Roque Santa Cruz was forced off with an ankle problem on the half-hour but his replacement, Matt Derbyshire, had the ball in the net with his first touch when he tapped in Samba's nod down from a Steven Warnock long ball.

Their celebrations were quickly cut short when they saw the referee's assistant's flag up on the sidelines, ruling Derbyshire had been in an offside position when Warnock's ball was played, though replays showed the former England under-21 was level with Davenport at the time.

Their rough luck continued after the break when Robert Green saved Roberts's penalty two minutes into the second half, which Rovers were awarded after Carlton Cole had blocked Samba's free-kick with his hand. Hammers spot-kick specialist Green maintained his excellent record of penalty saves by getting down low to his left to turn away Roberts's effort.

The rest of the match maintained the competitive and exciting pattern, with both keepers being forced into action. Brett Emerton got in behind full-back George McCartney - who came on as a substitute for debutant Valon Behrami - and the Australian saw his header at the far post saved by the foot of Green.

The Upton Park fans were given extra reason to cheer when Bellamy made his first appearance of the season when he replaced Ashton with 20 minutes to go, and the Welshman met a cross with a crisp volley that Robinson did well to palm away.

Rovers didn't clear the danger and moments later Carlton Cole fought off the grasp of Keith Andrews - making his Rovers bow after coming on at half-time for fellow new-boy Vincenzo Grella - to blast an effort that the former Tottenham keeper pushed away at full stretch.

It looked at that point as though the match would end 2-1, before West Ham hit their visitors with those two late sucker punches.