Curbishley does not expect the good times to suddenly start rolling again just because his side contrived a highly flattering 4-1 win over Blackburn at Upton Park to register their best start to a season for nine years.

Had they lost, especially to Paul Ince's rugged Rovers, there can be little doubt that Curbishley would now be a giant step nearer losing his job - no matter how strange that sounds.

In the 20 months Curbishley has been manager, he has avoided a seemingly inevitable relegation and finished 10th last season despite numerous high-profile injuries.

Last week's sale of Anton Ferdinand, bringing a reported £8million into the club, was clearly not Curbishley's decision however and endorsed the fans' feeling that he is not in charge of his own destiny.

He said: "I got some criticism last season and more now which I will take but I've sat at Charlton when other managers were getting it, being called turnips and jokers and whatever else, and I wondered what it was like. Now I've found out.

"But as long as it is me getting it and not the players then fine, because it is the players who have got to go out there and perform.

"There's not too much I can do about it except for us to keep winning games and what will be will be.

"The board have put me under no pressure whenever I speak to the people concerned.

"The man in the street? I was told once early in my career that in this game you just can't hide.

"If it's going badly you can't stop going out and taking your kids to school, you can't stop going around the supermarket with your wife. You've got to carry on as normal, not hide away.

"But the fans are a big thing and a big part of what goes on here.

"I've had 15 years of people patting me on the back before I came back here and I knew then what the situation was and what the responsibility was.

"But I can't go around all the time just defending myself. It does feel I've had to do that more than I should have but now I'm just going to get on with it."

Curbishley was not fooled by the win over Blackburn. His side were two up after 20 minutes with defender Calum Davenport heading in Julien Faubert's corner and an own-goal by Christopher Samba.

But a quick Jason Roberts reply made it feel like Wigan all over again when the Hammers struggled to win from a similar position in the first game of the season.

And they may well have lost this one but for Robert Green's dramatic save from Roberts' penalty early in the second half.

The stoppage-time goals by substitute Craig Bellamy and Carlton Cole gave the scoreline an unfair gloss.

Curbishley admitted: "It was a bit lively in the dressing room afterwards because we are still a little bit frustrated that we got ourselves in a decent position early on again and then helped Blackburn on their way back a bit.

"Some of the things we did in the second half were disappointing and everybody had their say, not just me. We needed what Bellamy gave us when he came on and kept trying to retain the ball whereas before we tried to force it too much.

"Sure, we ended up with four goals and a great result but if we had handled it differently we would have scored four in any case once we had put ourselves in a winning position."