ROVERS' FA Youth Cup dreams disappeared during a second half nightmare at Upton Park last night.

After taking a 1-0 lead into the half-time break, Blackburn totally lost their discipline, both in terms of defending set pieces and controlling their temper.

Two early second half goals in the space of two minutes, both from corners, left Rovers trailing before Ralph Welch was sent off for violent conduct.

That left the 10 men facing an uphill challenge to stay in the cup, but it proved too steep as the Hammers scored twice more, including one from another corner.

And yet it had all looked so promising for Blackburn in the 34th minute when Joel Byrom sent Keith Barker away, and he outpaced the defence before cutting in to finish with his left foot.

Boss Bobby Downes, who led his side to the semi-finals last year, said: "It's a very disappointing night for us. We haven't conceded many goals this season so to concede four in one game is a shock to the system.

"Wets Ham are halfway in their league and we are top of ours but the league we are in is stronger, so we expected better than that.

"They have some good players and one of the lads, Noble, played in their first team on Saturday, but the game was just like the FA Cup. On the night they weren't much better than us but we conceded three from set pieces."

Downes also had no complaints about the red card Welch received, which all but ended Rovers' hopes of a fightback.

"He kicked out at a lad," said the manager. "We couldn't complain, that was the right decision."