ALAN Curbishley admitted West Ham "could not cope" with Bolton Wanderers after watching his side go down to a 1-0 defeat at the Reebok Stadium.

Despite facing a team who had not won in 10 matches - and who had tasted victory just six times in 33 league games before Saturday's success - the Hammers were outfought, out-muscled and outplayed by their relegation-threatened opponents.

And Curbishley was honest enough to admit that the Trotters were full value for a win secured by Kevin Davies's 46th minute goal.

"Bolton put in some terrific effort during the first half and I've not seen a team work so hard. They put us under an awful lot of pressure," admitted the Irons boss, whose West Ham have never won in eight attempts at the Reebok.

"You come to Bolton knowing just what to expect and everybody says how difficult they are to handle. They were at it' in a first half that was vintage Bolton in the way they set about things and we just couldn't cope with it."

Already without injured captain Lucas Neill, Curbishley's cause was not helped by the loss of Anton Ferdinand to a hamstring pull after just four minutes.

Jonathan Spector reverted to centre half, allowing Bolton to capitalise on the American's lack of height by pumping high balls in for Davies to challenge for.

And it was from one such delivery, a Matt Taylor corner, that caused Spector to make the mistake that led to the striker's winner.

"We came here with a big, strong side hoping to get through it because we knew it was coming but for the first 46 minutes we just couldn't manage to do that," Curbishley observed.

"They scored a typical Bolton goal. They'll back look at it and say that over the course of the season they work hard for goals like that."

There was a slight suggestion that Kevin Nolan had impeded Spector in the run-up to Bolton's goal, while Matthew Upson also received a blow to the face from Davies's right arm, and Curbishley claimed referee Peter Walton - who sent off Reading's Brynjar Gunnarsson for a two-footed lunge at Upton Park earlier this season - could have done more to curb the Northerners' physical approach.

"What you want is a little bit of protection because when the ball goes into the box there's a lot of pressure and people in there," he added.

"You think is it a foul but it's not afoul and they get a goal. Nolan tends to get himself around the 'keeper before touching him or barging him and he causes a bit of confusion.

"If you look back over the past couple of seasons, it's probably a typical Bolton goal. We never dealt with it and that's disappointing."

Victory was just Bolton's second over top-half opposition in 51 attempts, the other being the Trotters' 1-0 win over Manchester United in November, leaving manager Gary Megson delighted with his side's spirited display.

"It was a terrific result and a terrific performance. It was fully deserved because not a massive amount came back from West Ham," said Megson, who was the subject of pre-match protests from sections of the home crowd.

"The support was fantastic today. This is a massive victory. Now we've got to focus upon getting as many points out the remaining 12 that we're playing for and also hope that things start going for us."