West Ham United 4 Blackburn Rovers 1: Curbishley's men stage inquest into 'lucky' win

It was easy to imagine the atmosphere in the home dressing room after West Ham completed a second 4-1 victory in four days. Craig Bellamy telling everyone what a great strike his goal had been; Callum Davenport saying, "What about my header?"; another voice shouting, "Top save from the pen, Greenie." And the manager, Alan Curbishley, pondering the club's best start in nine years, feeling vindicated.

It was nothing like that at all. Voices were raised, not in acclamation but in anger. Fingers were pointed, blame contested. There was recrimination rather than celebration. West Ham had, after all, gone extremely close to throwing away the 2-0 lead they established in the opening 20 minutes before putting a gloss on the result with two injury-time goals.

"It was a bit lively in the dressing room afterwards," said Curbishley. "We were a little frustrated that we got ourselves in a decent position, and it felt as if we helped Blackburn on their way back into it. We know we can play better. We did not retain the ball well enough. That is something we need to work on. We got in positions where we perhaps tried to force it instead of just letting it flow. We know we got ourselves in a winning position and we [should have] handled it a bit differently."

Asked if the inquest was led by the coaching staff, or was conducted among the players, the manager replied: "It was everybody."

This could be taken as further evidence that Curbishley has lost the dressing room as well as the plot, a view which appears entrenched among sections of the board, the supporters and the media. Or it could demonstrate a shared desire to succeed and progress, a determination not to hide behind a misleading scoreline but to work to ensure that the next time the Hammers build a winning position it is not jeopardised.

Having been thrashed by Manchester City last week and then taken to extra time by Macclesfield, there was a fragility about West Ham. The 2-0 lead created by Davenport's header and Christopher Samba's own goal from a sliced clearance lasted barely a minute, before Jason Roberts rolled Davenport to score. As Rovers pressed, Matt Derbyshire had a "goal" wrongly ruled out for offside, Roberts saw Rob Green save his penalty, and the goalkeeper made a point-blank save from Brett Emerton.

Curbishley looked aghast when five minutes of injury time were added on, but during it Bellamy lashed a volley past Paul Robinson and Carlton Cole tapped in. "The result doesn't reflect the performance," Roberts said. "If I'd stuck the penalty away, maybe things would have been totally different."

The Blackburn manager, Paul Ince, who stood in the technical area all game as abuse rained down on him, said: "I'm pleased for Curbs, but he is obviously a lucky manager."

Curbishley is unlikely to concur, given his injury list last season, and the speculation surrounding his future in a job which, to outsiders, he appears to have done well.

He said: "I have sat there – when I was at Charlton – watching what was going on with other managers being criticised, being called turnips and jokers and everything else, and wondered what it was like. Now I am finding out. It does feel I have had to defend myself more than I should have in the 20 months I've been here but if that is the case I have to get on with it. There is not much I can do except for us to win games."

Born and bred a West Ham fan, Curbishley still lives locally, which made him pause before returning to one of the clubs he played for. No wonder, he said, even some of his friends had been giving him stick. "Frank Lampard [Snr] said to me when I was an apprentice, 'You can't hide'. That still rings true. As a player if you are having a bad time you can't stop taking the kids to school, or going to the supermarket. You have to carry on as normal. And as a manager you can't hide away, you have to front up."

Goals: Davenport (12) 1-0; Samba og (20) 2-0; Roberts (22) 2-1; Bellamy (90) 3-1, Cole (90) 4-1.

West Ham United (4-4-2): Green; Behrami, Davenport, Upson, Neill; Faubert (McCartney, 59), Noble (Mullins, 80), Parker, Etherington; Ashton (Bellamy, 68), Cole. Substitutes not used: Lastuvka (gk), Boa Morte, K Reid, Sears.

Blackburn Rovers (4-4-2): Robinson; Ooijer, Samba, Nelsen, Warnock; Emerton, Grella (Andrews, h-t), S Reid, Pedersen (Treacy, 65); Roberts, Santa Cruz (Derbyshire, 28). Substitutes not used: Brown (gk), Mokoena, Villaneuva, Simpson.

Referee: M Riley (West Yorkshire).

Booked: West Ham Bellamy; Blackburn Grella, Roberts, Ooijer, Emerton.

Man of the match: Green.

Attendance: 32,905.