Bruce Fumes As Bellamy Eases Pressure on Curbishley

Craig Bellamy, one of the leading members of West Ham's awkward crew, had started the day by heaping more pressure on his manager Alan Curbishley when it was alleged on the back page of a tabloid paper he had angrily confronted his manager following their opening day defeat. In the end, it was thanks to him some of that pressure had lifted.

In a career littered with controversy, what had happened here will probably barely rate a footnote when Bellamy's autobiography comes to be written. But Birmingham manager Steve Bruce and his players were furious with the Welshman after they claimed he had dived to win the penalty which earned West Ham their first victory of the season and went a long way to stopping the talks of an early-season crisis at Upton Park.

Bruce had described as 'crazy' the fact Curbishley's position had been the source of speculation after just one match, which they had lost 2-0 at home to Manchester City. Former Hammer Paul Konchesky had also shone an unwanted spotlight on Curbishley by claiming he was not liked by his players. Then allegedly, Bellamy rocked the boat even more.

So either Curbishley was very brave - or very stupid, depending on your point of view - to react to his perceived crisis by bringing in Kieron Dyer for £7million to join Bellamy, Lucas Neill and old sparring partner Lee Bowyer. With Freddie Ljungberg injured, Dyer was drafted in for his debut. But it was his captain Matthew Upson who drew the attention of most of the crowd.

The England defender was making his first return here since controversially leaving Birmingham for West Ham in the January transfer window when Bruce had not wanted him to depart at a time they were chasing promotion. Upson was booed relentlessly by the crowd, although, fortunately for him, Birmingham's lack-lustre strikers gave him a much easier time.

In fact, so generally unappetizing was the fare on offer that Birmingham's new Hong Kong investor Carson Yeung, who is hoping to be in complete control of the club by Christmas, must have been wondering if his lawyers had inserted a get-out clause into his contract. Apart from turning Birmingham into every Chinese fans favourite club, Yeung also plans to turn the city into the capital of Chinese restaurants. If they are anything like this, the old joke about wanting another one after half-an-hour is not going to be true.

Both sides only had one moment when they looked threatening. The first was in the 24th minute when Mark Noble thumped a 25-yard free-kick against the base of a Birmingham post and then on the stroke of half-time, when West Ham keeper Robert Green had to be alert to beat out a close-range shot from Radhi Jaidi.

The intensity stepped up noticeably after the interval but, sadly, the quality remained as low as before. Things were best summed up by two incidents involving Bobby Zamora within three minutes. In the 62nd minute he showed Premier League class to skilfully bring down a cross from Anton Ferdinand, but schoolboy class to fire woefully over the bar. Then two minutes later, following a good run from Matthew Etherington which saw the ball caught a deflection and bounce up invitingly for him, Zamora shot weakly wide.

Just when it looked like no one was going to be capable of producing something to break the deadlock up popped Bellamy in the 70th minute. He was chasing a through ball which appeared to be going out. However, thanks to his speed, he managed to reach the ball at the same time as Birmingham keeper Colin Doyle went to ground. Bellamy went sprawling yet it took the intervention of a signal from the linesman for the penalty to be awarded. A chaotic few moments ensued before Noble was allowed to step up and calmly send Doyle the wrong way for West Ham's first goal of the season.

Bruce was still berating the linesman near the final whistle, his mood having not improved when, three minutes after the goal, after Garry O'Connor appeared to be pushed in the West Ham penalty area only for Birmingham appeals to fall on deaf ears. In the end, the closest his side came was a low fizzing 20-yard free-kick from substitute Gary McSheffrey which Green pushed away.

Dyer and Bellamy then should have made things even worse for Bruce in the final seconds when they were both faced with one-on-one situations with Doyle, only to see their shots blocked by the keeper.