Fulham (0) 0 West Ham (1) 1
FULHAM continue to take limited comfort from the misfortunes of those below them,
which is just as well since they seem almost incapable of helping themselves.
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Fulham Assistant manager Christian Damiano says Fulham need another 5
points
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One step beyond: West Ham's goalscorer Frederic Kanoute is pursued by Fulham's
Steve Finnan
Following a useful point at Southampton, this was back to the struggles of life
in SW6: a third consecutive home defeat without so much as a goal, for all their
possession.
The winning goal, headed in late in the first half by Frederic Kanoute, came
from West Ham's solitary meaningful effort on goal, but the result was no travesty
as Fulham mustered only two worthwhile chances of their own.
Jean Tigana's side cannot survive on the failings of others forever. Assistant
manager Christian Damiano said that the inability to score goals characterised
Fulham's season. "We need five more points from the last five games,"
he said.
For more than an hour West Ham played with a substitute centre-half, Ian Pearce,
at right-back and Sebastian Schemmel filling in on the left after Vladimir Labant
went off with a back injury, but they were seldom put under the sort of pressure
which might have disrupted the generally unhurried rhythm of Christian Dailly
and Tomas Repka.
| Match Stats |
Fulham |
West Ham
|
| Goal attempts |
10 |
3 |
| On Target |
2 |
2 |
| Hit woodwork |
0 |
0 |
| Fouls |
10 |
12 |
| Offsides |
3 |
0 |
| Corners |
7 |
1 |
| Yellows |
1 |
1 |
| Reds |
0 |
0 |
| source: www.sports.com |
For all the high tempo of their start, Fulham missed a brace of chances in as
many seconds and, with them, the opportunity to ease the patent lack of confidence
in their ability to beat David James.
Certainly, Barry Hayles should have scored from Louis Saha's cute reverse pass
in the seventh minute but, having held off Labant, he shot against the goalkeeper's
legs. A stretching Sylvain Legwinski sent the rebound high over the crossbar
but the storm soon abated and, when West Ham finally ventured forward, they
duly scored.
From a throw on the left, Trevor Sinclair worked a neat one-two with Steve
Lomas and sent in a perfect cross with his left foot. Kanoute won an unequal
aerial contest with Alain Goma to nod in his 10th Premiership goal.
Fulham substitute Jon Harley extended James with a looping header within seconds
of joining the fray, but it says much for their plight that no one came closer
to an equaliser than a despairing header from their goalkeeper, Edwin van der
Sar, in stoppage time.
Fulham: Van der Sar, Finnan, Melville, Goma, Brevett, Collins (Marlet 59),
Malbranque, Legwinski, Davis (Harley 79), Saha (Boa Morte 59), Hayles.
Subs Not Used: Taylor, Knight.
Booked: Finnan(77, D).
West Ham: James, Schemmel, Dailly, Repka, Labant (Pearce 23), Sinclair,
Cole, Carrick, Lomas, Kanoute (Defoe 84), Di Canio (Moncur 66).
Subs Not Used: Hislop, Courtois.
Booked: Dailly.
Goals: Kanoute 45.
Att: 19,416 Ref: M Halsey (Welwyn Garden City).