Curbs curses rough justice

Crocked: Anton Ferdinand's second minute injury did not help West Ham's cause

West Ham manager Alan Curbishley felt his side received very little help from the referee during the 1-0 defeat at Bolton.

"Whenever you play Bolton it's difficult, you complain to officials but it falls on deaf ears. I'm disappointed with a few things."
Alan Curbishley Quotes of the week

In spite of Bolton having two goals disallowed, the Hammers' boss felt official Peter Walton let Wanderers impose their physical style on the contest.

The visitors endured a torrid afternoon against Kevin Davies as they went down to another away defeat.

"It's a difficult game when you come here (to the Reebok). All you ask for is a bit of protection but we didn't get a lot," said Curbishley.

"Whenever you play Bolton it's difficult; you complain to officials but it falls on deaf ears. I'm disappointed with a few things.

"You know what to expect when you come. They work hard here but they get away with professional things that we all see but referees don't.

"Referees have it difficult when you play Bolton; there's lots of physical contact. Referees, when they do their homework, need to have a look at one or two things.

Protection

"That said you've got to play against it and it is Bolton that have got the three points. I've no complaints about their effort but the referees don't give us enough protection.

"We were second best in the first half and Bolton played to their strengths and we struggled to compete with it."

The visitors' cause was not helped by the second-minute loss of centre-back Anton Ferdinand with a hamstring injury.

"Anton's a bit sore at the moment. Obviously it was a bit of a blow for us so early on in the game," Curbishley said.

"We have been a bit patched up for most of the season and we've come here a bit patched up again and we have just got to get on with it.

"You come here, you know what to expect and with him going off we had to reshuffle and Bolton put in a terrific effort in the first 46 minutes.

"I have not seen a team work so hard. They put us under an awful lot of pressure."