ANGRY Blackburn boss Graeme Souness blasted his players after they threw away more vital Premiership points at the hands of lowly West Ham last night.

Rovers became the first side to lose at Upton Park this season when Jermain Defoe struck in stoppage time to seal a vital 2-1 win for the relegation-haunted Hammers.

The defeat came as a major blow to Rovers' hopes of securing a place in Europe but Souness was in no mood to make excuses for his misfiring side afterwards.

"We didn't play at all. We had too many people who simply didn't turn up," blasted Souness.

"I thought we were nervous which was hard to understand against a team who were fighting for their lives.

"When we went 1-0 up we didn't show any real composure, we didn't keep the ball for anything length of time and maybe that was a mixture of us not being so good on the night and West Ham putting us under a bit of pressure.

"But I did say before the match that it was always going to be a difficult game, on the back of them getting walloped on Sunday and the fact that they hadn't won at home all season so give them credit, they kept going and got their first win.

"They were always going to beat somebody sooner or later but that's their story.

"My story as manager of Blackburn Rovers is the fact that we had too many people who didn't turn up and that's why we lost."

Rovers had actually taken the lead when Dwight Yorke pounced to score his 11th goal of the season in the 38th minute.

But Paolo Di Canio then sparked a fightback by converting a penalty midway through the second half before Defoe then snatched all three points.

Souness later had no complaints about the Hammers' penalty award, although he did feel the visitors were denied a penalty of their own when Yorke appeared to be tripped in the box with the game delicately poised at 1-1.

"None of our players complained about their penalty which tells me it must have been one," said Souness.

"But we should have had a penalty, too, according to Dwight who said he was tripped."

The result lifted West Ham off the bottom of the table and Souness believes Glenn Roeder's men will now go on to win their fight against relegation.

"It was a good night for West Ham. They're a super football club and I hope they stay up," said the Rovers boss.

"You're never too good to go down but I believe with the quality of players they have there it's not impossible for them to go on a run now."