Blues suffered the first home defeat of their Premier League campaign in controversial fashion.

Craig Bellamy 'earned' his side a second half penalty after appearing to jump over a diving Colin Doyle and Mark Noble converted the subsequent spot kick to send Alan Curbishley's men home with all three points.

In fairness Blues created very few chances of note during the 90 minutes and West Ham were arguably the better team on the day, but to lose the game under such dubious circumstances would have been a bitter blow to Steve Bruce.

Bruce made two changes to the side with Gary McSheffrey dropping to the bench and Johan Djourou failing a very late fitness test before the game.

Garry O'Connor was rewarded with his first start after his goal scoring home debut, and back in defence was the familiar face of Radhi Jaidi alongside Liam rRdgewell.

Former Blues centre-half Matthew Upson was given the all-clear to play and return to his old stomping ground where he established himself as a Premiership player and England International.

It only took a matter of seconds for the obligatory boos to greet Upson as he launched his clearance forward.

Mehdi Nafti added to the atmosphere with a late crunching tackle on the former Blues man and was fortunate not to be cautioned by Mr Halsey.

In the sixth minute the referee did get his card out for Hayden Mullins, who had hauled back Seb Larsson as he was trying to drive Blues forward.

A minute later there were appeals from the visitors when new boy Kieron Dyer went tumbling in the box under pressure from Stephen Kelly but no penalty was the correct decision.

The game continued at pace with neither side giving their opponents a second to dwell on the ball.

Blues' first chance fell to Blues' Garry O'Connor, but after a neat interchange he finished with a poor shot well wide of the target.

Blues were looking the more likely to create something as the half went on, as West Ham conceded a succession of free-kicks in the their own territory.

Twice Gary O'Connor got onto the end of set pieces.

The first came with an attempted header back towards goal and the second when he charged down Anton Ferdinand's headed clearance from Larsson's free-kick.

In the 25th minute West Ham went closest to taking the lead when they hit the woodwork.

Jaidi conceded a soft free-kick for handball 20 yards out from goal.

Mark Noble stepped up to smash the free-kick low through the wall only for it to thud back off the base of Doyle's right hand post.

Blues almost made them pay for this immediately when Upson's stray pass found Mikael Forssell 35 yards from goal.

The Blues striker had Ferdinand back peddling towards goal but unfortunately his shot from the edge of the box was wide of Green's post.

West Ham were now having their best spell with Blues conceding several free-kicks in dangerous positions.

Zamora's short free-kick sent Noble clear but Nafti was alert to the danger and blocked his cross for a corner.

West Ham continued to pile on the pressure and Dyer forced the first save of the game when he latched onto Jonathan Spector's cross but it was a simple stop for Colin Doyle.

Blues broke away immediately with Forssell linking up with O'Connor and the ball eventually fell for Fabrice Muamba, but he took an eternity to take aim with his shot and West Ham cleared the danger.

Stuart Parnaby was the first Blues man in the book for a rash challenge on full-back George McCartney in the 35th minute.

In the final minute of the half Jonathan Spector was booked for fetching down Seb Larsson who had raced for 60 yards to latch onto Doyle's long punt up-field.

Then on 45 minutes Jaidi had Blues' best chance of the half.

Larsson's free-kick was touched on by Forssell and cleared out to Jaidi, but his first time volley was well saved by Robert Green.

Half-time Blues 0-0 West Ham

Blues started the second half on the front foot.

Kapo collapsed under a challenge from Spector, but Kelly continued the move forwards only to be stopped in the penalty box.

Thankfully Frenchman Kapo quickly recovered to continue the game without treatment.

The action was back in Blues half moments later with Jaidi blocking Noble's shot on the edge of the box with his body.

West Ham continued to press and Upson went close with a header from Noble's corner but Nafti's clearance fell to Zamora who blazed over.

Blues were put back under pressure and the impressive Noble jinked his way into the box and picked Bellamy out on the edge of the six-yard box.

Thankfully for Blues Dyer was in the way of Bellamy's shot and it deflected off his back and out for a goal kick.

Mehdi Nafti equalled up the tally of yellow cards in the 55th minute when he was harshly booked for fouling Bellamy deep in West Ham's half.

The Blues fans shouted out ironic cheers on the hour mark when Mr Halsey finally awarded a free-kick to the home side after letting a few dubious decisions go in the visitors' favour.

Disappointingly Blues wasted the free-kick floating it straight into Green's arms.

West Ham then had three good chances in the space of 90 seconds with two falling to Zamora.

The first came when Matthew Etherington raced into the box and tried his luck from a tight angle but Doyle parried his shot and hooked the ball clear.

Then Zamora broke into the box and Kelly stopped him with an amazing challenge before turning and clearing the danger again.

Zamora tried his luck once again from the other side of the box but failed to hit the target again.

Blues were struggling to get out of their own half and Zamora went close again

Steve Bruce made his first change of the afternoon by bringing on Gary McSheffrey for Mikael Forssell in the 66th minute with Kapo pushed up front.

Disaster struck in the 68th when West Ham were awarded a penalty they clearly didn't deserve.

Bellamy ran in to the area with the ball, but with Colin Doyle approaching, the West Ham man overhit the ball. 

As Doyle went to ground, television replays clearly showed that the Wales international had made the most of falling over Doyle's outstretched arms.

Referee Halsey failed to notice any infringement but after consulting his assistant Mr Matadar, he disappointingly decided to award the penalty.

Liam Ridgewell got booked for his protestations.

Mark Noble made no mistake from the spot sending Colin Doyle the wrong way with his spot kick.

Two minutes later there were clear claims for a Blues penalty when Zamora blatantly pushed O'Connor in the back but this time the referee saw nothing untoward!

Kapo almost lost the plot in the 73rd minute when he was unfairly adjudged to have fouled Etherington before bouncing the ball down in frustration right in front of the referee to earn himself the fifth booking of the game.

In the 75th minute Cameron Jerome replaced Mehdi Nafti as Steve Bruce tried to salvage something from the game.

Then in the 80th minute Mat Sadler made his first appearance of the season replacing Fabrice Muamba with Kelly switching back to his normal position at right back.

A minute alter Cameron Jerome saw his volley from the edge of the area hooked off the line by goal scorer Mark Noble.

In the 84th minute McSheffrey went close when his 30 yard free-kick was deflected through towards goal, before Green saved at the last second.

In the 86th minute Danny Gabbidon replaced Jonathan Spector.

Then in the dying minutes Colin Doyle pulled off two one-on-one saves from Dyer and Bellamy to keep Blues' hopes alive.

But with just a matter of minutes remaining Steve Bruce's side were unable to fashion a goal and go into their next League game at Derby with just a single point from their opening three fixtures.

Full time: Blues 0 West Ham 1 

Blues: Colin Doyle, Stuart Parnaby, Stephen Kelly, Radhi Jaidi, Liam Ridgewell, Seb Larsson, Fabrice Muamba (80, Mat Sadler), Mehdi Nafti (Jerome 75), Olivier Kapo, Garry O'Connor, Mikael Forssell (66, Gary McSheffrey).

Subs not used: Maik Taylor, Rowan Vine

Bookings: Stuart Parnaby (35), Mehdi Nafti (55), Liam Ridgewell (68)

West Ham: Robert Green, Jonathan Spector (86 Danny Gabbidon), George McCartney, Matthew Upson, Anton Ferdinand, Matthew Etherington, Mark Noble, Hayden Mullins, Gary Bellamy, Bobby Zamora.

Subs not used: Walker, Ashton, Bowyer, Boa Morte.

Goals: Mark Noble (69, pen)

Bookings: Hayden Mullins (6), Jonathan Spector (44)

Attendance: 24,961