PAUL LAMBERT’S FA Cup dream took a nosedive when Blackburn Rovers were walloped 5-1 at home against Premier League opposition in West Ham.
The former Celtic striker agreed a £3.5million switch from Norwich City last month and rattled in 10 goals in 11 games to push the Hillsborough side towards promotion.
However, he fired blanks as his new club crashed to their first defeat since December 28 after having his fellow-frontman Fernando Foretieri sent off following two bookings – for diving and then a handball.
Boss Carlos Carvalhal, who was without on-loan Everton winger Aiden McGeady, was raging after the loss.
The Portuguese gaffer said: “The first yellow card was unbelievable because it was a clear foul to us and he gives a yellow to Fernando.
“If he doesn’t go down, he will be in front of goal in the area with a very clear chance to score. For me, he didn’t dive in that moment because if he did it was not a good choice.
“I am happy with the attitude of our players, they tried to win the game, but we are unhappy with the score, of course.
“The fans were amazing again, the game was balanced, we both created chances and in the second-half we looked as though we would score, but the red card changed the game.
“Even with 10 players we took risks and the players fought until the last second to try and win the game.”
Joe Garner’s got the only goal of the encounter to dump Wednesday, who had Scottish internationals Barry Bannan and Ross Wallace in midfield.
The Yorkshire outfit have now dropped to sixth in the table, six points adrift of the automatic promotion places.
GARY CALDWELL praised his Wigan’s Warriors after their last-gasp 2-1 win at Walsall.
The former Celtic and Scotland skipper guided his team into an automatic promotion place in League One as Yanic Wildschut claimed the points-clincher.
Caldwell said: “If we had put the game to bed in the first-half, it would have been a lot easier for everyone.
“We never know when we’re down or when we’re beaten – we keep coming back.
“At 1-1, we made attacking subs because we had an intent to go and win the game.
“I thought in terms of the whole 90 minutes, we were the better team and deserved to win the game.”
Conor McAleny struck from 25 yards to put Caldwell’s men ahead in the first-half, but Sam Mantom thumped in the equaliser after a Jason Demetriou free-kick was blocked.
There were chances at both ends before Wildschut cut inside and beat Neil Etheridge at the near post to seal it.
The win lifted Wigan into second place and extended their unbeaten run to 11 games.
Walsall boss Sean O’Driscoll said: “We struggled in the first-half to get any rhythm, early on you realised that Wigan’s game plan was to stop the full-backs.
“You’ve got to give them some credit, and I think our game plan all week was to do certain things and that went out the window early on.
“I think we got a little frustrated with each other and it was a bit like a chess match in the first-half, we sort of cancelled each other out.
“A worldie goal got them in front which you can’t really legislate for.”
On-loan Celt EOGHAN O’CONNELL netted in Cork City’s 4-0 win over Cobh Ramblers in the fiendly encounter at St Colman’s Park.
The centre-half, who has agreed a temporary move until July, headed in a free-kick just after the hour mark to give his new team a three-goal advantage.
Former Hoops midfielder Colin Healy had put Cork ahead with an expertly-taken penalty-kick in the 13th minute.
FORMER Celtic loan star JOHN GUIDETTI netted a double as Celta Vigo beat Eibar 3-2.
The goals helped his team leapfrog their opponents into sixth place in La Liga.
A strike in each half from the Swede, either side of a Jonny effort, had the hosts in total control.
But Saul Berjon pulled one back from the penalty spot in the 84th minute and Takashi Inui reduced the deficit further three minutes later.
Guidetti joined the Spaniards in the summer when his temporary move to Ronny Deila’s team from Manchester City expired.
He claimed 15 goals in 35 appearances for the Hoops.
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