Premiership: Derby away-day blues continue

West Ham 4, Derby County 0 (result)

Benito Carbone became the latest target of the Premier League referees’ clampdown on diving on a day when fellow Italian Paolo di Canio answered West Ham manager Glenn Roeder’s call to arms.

At a recent seminar of the elite 24-man body of professional officials, top of the agenda was players attempting to win free kicks and penalties by deception, with the promise they would pay for the price for their so-called ‘cheating’.

Carbone, now nearing the end of his three-month loan spell from Bradford, was left stunned when Poll showed him yellow early in the second half as he tumbled in the area after being sandwiched by Christian Dailly and Nigel Winterburn.

It seemed rough justice on Carbone as Don Hutchison had appealed for a penalty in the 11th minute when he was bundled over by Chris Riggott, but Poll chose to wave away all appeals.

It begs the question if Poll ignored Hutchison’s claims, why was the midfielder not also booked as there was little to choose between the two incidents.

Sadly, for Carbone that booking led to his downfall for there could be no doubt as to the fact he deserved a second caution minutes after his first for jumping into West Ham’s Czech international defender Tomas Repka.

Carbone then had to be restrained from confronting Tring official Poll, initially by keeper David James, and then compatriot and former Sheffield Wednesday team-mate di Canio.

There was a consoling pat on the back of the head from boss Colin Todd as he headed down the tunnel, and it proved the beginning of the end for Derby’s hopes as West Ham eventually ran riot.

After just five minutes Hammers supporters must have been dreaming of last season’s Boxing Day scoreline when Charlton were on the receiving end of a 5-0 hiding.

For right wing-back Sebastien Schemmel, there was obvious delight in scoring his first goal for the club, and Roeder’s side should at least have added another before the interval.

But despite a bright opening 20 mintes from West Ham, matching the sunshine which blinded James during the first half, the quality of football then faded until the game-turning dismissal of Carbone.

While West Ham look as if they will comfortably escape the drop, the same cannot be said for the Rams, who should have been in buoyant mood following Saturday’s 3-1 win over Champions League-chasing Aston Villa.

Instead, Todd’s relegation-haunted outfit looked like a team now with only one point from nine league games this season and without a win in this particular part of London for 25 years.

In attempting to bring the curtain down on such abysmal records, the Rams could not have made a worse possible start, sparked by a Youl Mawene foul on di Canio on the edge of the area following a long punt upfield by James.

Michael Carrick’s backheel from the free kick was driven through the wall by Hutchison, allowing right wing-back Schemmel, a £450,000 summer signing from Metz to clumsily flick the ball home from just five yards.

Di Canio, criticised recently by Roeder for not scoring enough goals this season, should have added to his miserly four in the last four months with two chances prior to the break.

But di Canio, allegedly involved in a tunnel bust-up with a steward at Leicester on Saturday, made amends 15 minutes from time as West Ham made their numerical advantage pay.

Di Canio capitalised on a mistake by Francois Grenet to drive the ball home from 18 yards past Poom, who then pulled off superb saves to deny Carrick and Joe Cole.

But there was nothing the Estonia international could do to prevent a goal-of-the-month contender from Trevor Sinclair in the dying moments of the game.

A Di Canio corner was effortlessly flicked on by Cole from the edge of the area to the far post for Sinclair to brilliantly scissor kick beyond Poom, who was beaten for a fourth time in injury time by substitute Jermain Defoe.