West Ham face the threat of police enquiry into the behaviour of Joe Cole and Rufus Brevett following an altercation at the end of their 1-0 defeat at Bolton Wanderers.

Frustrations boiled over in a tempestuous closing sequence which saw Ian Pearce red-carded and Cole booked in one melee, before a second flare-up on the final whistle which apparently continued down the tunnel.

But experienced striker Les Ferdinand has criticised the behaviour of some of the Trotters players at the end of the tense Reebok Stadium encounter -- though he admits his team-mates should have been tough enough to deal with it.

"There was a little bit of gloating going on, and I went in the changing room afterwards and said 'yeah, they have every right to gloat' -- they feel like they are staying up and we are going down so of course they are going to be happy about that," he said.

"It is never nice, but that is just human beings with frustration boiling over. We should be more professional and in the situation we are in you want people to be keeping their heads.

"Sometimes, though, as human beings, we lose our rag a little bit and unfortunately for Ian he got himself sent off."

A statement from Greater Manchester Police confirmed they would be alerting the FA to the scenes in the tunnel, where Cole was said to have punched Bernard Mendy and damaged the tunnel structure and Brevett was also said to have been in an altercation.

And while the matter is now in the hands of the game's governing body, there is the prospect of further police action in the future.

All of this does little to help Hammers' increasingly slim chances of survival, with Cole and Pearce both facing bans for the last two games of the season.

But manager Glenn Roeder prepares for today's home game against Middlesbrough hoping to re-ignite the battle with another win.

Published Monday, April 21, 2003

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