MARK Hughes can expect a knock on his office door this week, and the odds are that it could well be Craig Bellamy asking for a pay rise.

For Blackburn Rovers' currently redundant striker has found his value soaring - through not even playing!

Two desperately disappointing cup exits in the space of four days underline just how much Bellamy's quality in the final third has so obviously been missed.

Whenever he's played this season, the injured-plagued Welshman has proved himself to be a major threat to opposition defences. He is the difference between Rovers being a mid-table side and one that has the potential to challenge for Europe.

Had he been available for last week's Carling Cup semi-final second leg against Manchester United, Blackburn fans may now be planning another trip to Cardiff.

Instead, Bellamy's team-mates now find themselves out of both knockout competitions at the end of what has been a traumatic week, and you can't help but feel the absence of the former Newcastle star has been the decisive factor.

When he's fit and causing havoc up front, Rovers are a force to be reckoned with - just ask Rio Ferdinand, the instigator of last week's tunnel brawl, who was given a roasting by Bellamy when Rovers beat United at Old Trafford earlier in the season.

But when his name is missing from the team-sheet - and, worryingly, that's beginning to happen far too frequently for Hughes' liking - Rovers are a different proposition altogether.

With all due respect to Shefki Kuqi and David Bentley, they don't scare the living daylights out of defenders in quite the same way the jet-heeled Bellamy does, which is why Hughes is desperate to get to the bottom of his star striker's persistent hamstring problems at a time when Rovers' season is in danger of fizzling out.

Most teams in the Premiership would miss a player of Bellamy's calibre, but to have Paul Dickov also missing too, with a shoulder injury that is likely to keep him sidelined for a month, has totally decimated Hughes' striking resources.

That's why the Rovers boss will spend the next few days frantically calling every contact he has in the hope he can land the extra striker he needs to tide him over for the rest of the season.

In fairness, it would be absurd and far too easy an excuse to blame the absence of one man for the entire team's demise here.

The cold, hard truth is Rovers were outplayed in virtually every department by a West Ham side that played some slick, enterprising, and often vibrant, attacking football.

Last week's exertions at Old Trafford had clearly taken their toll on Rovers and they lacked the competitive edge that has become their trademark under Hughes over the last 16 months as a result.

Indecisive at the back, off the pace in midfield, and devoid of attacking ideas up front, this was undoubtedly one of Rovers' poorest performances for some time, a point Hughes himself later acknowledged in his post-match press conference.

"I think, defensively, we didn't give ourselves a chance," said the Rovers boss, with brutal honesty.

"In certain situations, ordinarily, we would do well in most games and nip things in the bud, but we didn't really do that today.

"Things escalated and consecutive errors then started to happen and that's when you start conceding goals.

"In a way, it's understandable because we've had a huge week. We've had three difficult away games and you've got the travelling to throw into the mix as well, so it's been a big ask for the players.

"But we didn't really help ourselves today."

This defeat was all the harder to bear for Hughes given that Rovers had made such an excellent start, scoring after just 25 seconds courtesy of Bentley.

That should have given them the perfect platform on which to build another convincing away performance but, instead, it only seemed to galvanise the Hammers, who never looked back once parity was restored.

In saying that, the home side were the beneficiaries of yet another dubious decision by a referee.

Even Alan Pardew, the West Ham manager, later admitted he was left bewildered by Martin Atkinson's decision to award a penalty against Zurab Khizanishvili in the 32nd minute.

It's not exactly been a great week for the Georgian, who also suffered a similar fate at Old Trafford when Graham Poll ridiculously penalised him for what was an inadvertent handball.

On this occasion, the on-loan Rangers defender was harshly adjudged to have fouled Bobby Zamora in the area and the resulting spot-kick, deftly converted by the evergreen Teddy Sheringham, offered the Hammers a route back at a crucial point in the tie.

After that, Rovers imploded defensively and, uncharacteristically, they ended up bowing out rather lamely in the end, much to Hughes' obvious displeasure.

Earlier, it had all started so promisingly.

Hughes had barely taken his seat in the visiting dugout when he was up on his feet again, celebrating an early goal.

Steven Reid fed the ball to Kuqi out on the right and the Finn's low cross to the far post was turned in by Bentley, who was totally unmarked a yard out.

Andy Todd then had a header saved before the Hammers got back on level terms courtesy of Sheringham, who cheekily outwitted Brad Friedel from the penalty spot.

Slack defending four minutes later led to a second for Matt Etherington, who drilled a low shot emphatically past Friedel following some unselfish work by Zamora.

Aaron Mokoena forced two fine saves out of Shaka Hislop either side of the break before Khizanishvili's day went from bad to worse in the 59th minute, the Georgian scoring an own goal when trying to cut out Paul Konchesky's cross.

Rovers briefly threatened a revival when Lucas Neill pulled a goal back with a fine drive from 25 yards.

But Zamora then made sure of West Ham's place in the fifth round when he gobbled up a rebound 17 minutes from time after Friedel had brilliantly saved Marlon Harewood's initial shot.