Alan Curbishley has claimed that the Hammers were robbed of a cast-iron penalty in last night's 1-0 FA Cup 3rd round replay defeat at Manchester City.
During the second half Lee Bwoyer was sent tumbling by Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart, however referee Mark Clattenburg ignored Bowyer's subsequent penalty claim."We think it was a definite penalty," Curbishley told the BBC's Match of the Day. "Hart has come out as Lee has gone through and clipped it over him and taken him out.
"I think Clattenburg was following the ball because it was goalbound, but he definitely cleaned him out. I'm not saying he did it on purpose but he definitely hit him, so we're disappointed with that."
The defeat effectively ends West Ham's chances of winning silverware for another season, although Curbishley was happy that the game offered some of his returning players the chance to continue their rehabilitation - despite being naturally disappointed at going out of the Cup at such an early stage.
"We've come here and given it our best shot," he added. "We're really disappointed that we haven't won the game because we felt we dominated for long periods and created one or two chances.
"But we didn't take them - and we paid the price in the end. We're in there now thinking that we've let an opportunity go tonight.
"I had the opporunity to give a couple of players a game. Lee Boyer's been out for eight weeks, Luis Boa Morte for four or five and obviously we're trying to get Julien Faubert back to full fitness. I had one or two things in mind with our starting eleven and rested one or two people."
Meanwhile Curbishley and his side can look forward to an instant chance to amend last night's defeat, as the two sides clash again this weekend - this time in the Premier league.
"We've demonstrated, even with the injuries we've had all season, that we can compete - so we'll come here and give it a go on Sunday," summised Curbs.
"Perhaps we weren't good enough in some respects tonight but we came here, a tough place to come to, and we showed we could stand up to it - so I'm looking forward to Sunday."
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