For once, West Ham made it past lower league opposition, but they will still view the Carling Cup as a cursed competition after Kieron Dyer was carried off in agony with a suspected double fracture of his right leg. Manager Alan Curbishley was furious at Bristol Rovers midfielder Joe Jacobson over the ninth minute tackle which has probably ended Dyer's season just three games after arriving from Newcastle for £6million. The England man barely moved on the ground following the challenge which angered the West Ham players and overshadowed an efficient victory that came courtesy of the class of Craig Bellamy. Curbishley said: 'Fifteen minutes in, the game was immaterial when you get a serious injury like that. The Rovers player has to be very disappointed with his challenge. As far as I could see, he lashed out after losing the ball and caught Kieron and that's what you get. 'We're devastated for Kieron. I can't put it into words really. Everyone in the dressing room is really down. You put a strong side out in this competition and you wonder why sometimes. 'The luck's against us. I'm sitting here with £20million of players out injured in Julien Faubert, Freddie Ljungberg, Scott Parker and now Dyer. At this moment in time we're treading on eggshells. It's a little bit delicate.'
Jacobson was defended by Rovers boss Paul Trollope, who moved quickly to defuse the bad feeling that hung around after a game that was otherwise pleasing on the eye. Trollope said: 'It's a very unfortunate incident and our thoughts are with Kieron Dyer. From our point of view it was a foul. Joe swung his leg back to try to win the ball and that was it. 'It looks like a serious injury and you don't wish that on anyone, but the stories that have come out from the other camp that it was a malicious tackle are wide of the mark. Joe's not that type of player, he's an honest lad and we're not that type of club to tell our players to do that.'
On the positive side for West Ham, a team who have made an art form of losing to lowly opposition in cup competitions were rarely troubled once Bellamy had produced the first of two pieces of exquisite skill. Playing only because Dean Ashton had rushed off to be with his partner who had gone into labour, the Wales captain picked the ball up in midfield on the halfhour, drove into the space afforded him by the Rovers defence, sized up his target and struck a shot unerringly into the bottom corner from 30 yards.
Within 60 seconds, Bellamy ought to have sealed the Premier League side's passage into round three with a free header from eight yards that he could only guide into the arms of the grateful Steve Phillips.
