Curbishley makes Bellamy plea

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Bellamy, who managed only a handful of appearances last season due to injury, missed the start of the current campaign with a hamstring problem.

And after the striker scored a late goal against his former club Rovers at Upton Park, Curbishley said: "No way is Craig fit for international football and I've told him and John Toshack (the Wales manager) exactly that, even though he's called him up."

He added: "He has just come back and 20 minutes was all he could do. Even then he kept asking me to wait and wait. It's a similar story with George McCartney, even though he was capable of 45 minutes after his injury.

"I hope common sense prevails and he won't be asked to play for Northern Ireland next week."

Curbishley saw his side climb to third in the Barclays Premier League table, with Carlton Cole scoring an even later goal than Bellamy after the Hammers had struggled to maintain a 2-0 lead given to them by Calum Davenport and a Christopher Samba own goal in the first 20 minutes.

Jason Roberts pulled one back and then saw Robert Green save his penalty early in the second half.

Curbishley's counterpart, Paul Ince, was jeered and cat-called by the West Ham fans - nearly 20 years after he upset them by wearing a Manchester United shirt in public even before his transfer to Old Trafford was sealed.

He said: "It's always like a circus when I come back here. Today I thought it was pretty tepid. It was great. There are probably 15,000 fans out there that were not even born when it happened.

"Everything went against me today and everything went for Curbs. I'm not happy because we had enough chances to change the course of the game. Curbs is obviously a lucky manager, but I know he's also a top manager and I'm pleased for him."