West Ham shrugged off the criticisms of their Carling Cup performance by notching up a thumping 4-1 victory over Blackburn Rovers in their Premier League clash on Saturday.

It was a painful return to Upton Park for Paul Ince as he saw his side go two goals behind in the first 20 minutes. Jason Roberts reduced the deficit in the 22nd minute and Blackburn should have pulled level two minutes into the second half but Roberts was unable to convert his penalty as West Ham completed the proceedings with two late goals through Craig Bellamy and Carlton Cole.

After a quiet opening to the game, West Ham took the lead in the 12th minute when Calum Davenport rose high to head home a Julien Faubert corner. The hosts doubled the lead in the 20th minute when Mark Noble's shot took a big deflection off Christopher Samba and past Paul Robinson.

Blackburn pulled one back two minutes later when Vince Grella headed the ball into the path of Roberts who made no mistake from close range. The visitors had a great chance to equalize two minutes into the second half when they were given a penalty after Cole handled Steven Reid's free kick but Roberts was unable to beat Green from the penalty spot.

Blackburn stepped up the pressure in search of the equalizer but West Ham hung on to their slender lead before putting the result beyond doubt with Bellamy and Cole scoring deep in injury time to collect all three points for their side.